1 


THE 


HANDBOOK  OF  AMHERST, 


MASSACHUSETTS. 


PREPARED  AND  PUBLISHED 


FREDERICK   H.   HITCHCOCK, 


Sebcntp  Illustrations* 


AMHERST,    MASSACHUSETTS, 
EIGHTEEN    HUNDRED    AND    NINETY-ONE. 


THE   ILLUSTRATIONS    IN    THIS    BOOK   WERE    MADE   BY 

THE    BOSTON    ENGRAVING   COMPANY, 

227   TREMONT   STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1891,  by 

FREDERICK  H.  HITCHCOCK, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Typography  by  J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.,   Boston.  Presswork  by  Berwick  &  Smith,   Boston. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  HANDBOOK  OF  AMHERST  has  been  prepared  in  the  hope  of 
affording  its  readers  a  comprehensive  view  of  one  of  the  most 
attractive  little  towns  of  Western  Massachusetts;  and  it  is  believed 
to  be  the  first  attempt  at  combining  in  one  volume  the  matters  of 
permanent  interest  to  residents,  strangers,  and  college  students  alike. 

While  the  information,  covering  this  broad  field,  is  greatly  con- 
densed in  order  to  produce  a  book  of  convenient  size,  no  effort  has 
been  spared  to  make  it  accurate,  as  well  as  complete  in  every 
detail. 

Other  than  that  of  being  a  "  handbook,"  the  volume  has  no  pre- 
tensions. With  it  as  a  guide,  the  visitor  to  Amherst  can  see  every- 
thing of  any  importance  in  the  town  and  the  surrounding  country; 
and  to  both  residents  and  students  it  should  prove  a  valuable 
companion. 

Without  the  assistance  of  many  of  the  friends  of  the  town  and  its 
colleges,  the  publication  of  the  book  in  its  present  form  would  not 
have  been  possible.  The  names  of  all  those  who  have  aided  in 
gathering  material,  and  in  correcting  the  manuscript  and  proofs,  can- 
not be  mentioned,  but  among  them  were :  Dr.  William  S.  Tyler, 
President  M.  E.  Gates,  President  H.  H.  Goodell,  Dr.  Edward 
Hitchcock,  William  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  Professor  Charles  Wellington, 
Professor  W.  P.  Brooks,  Charles  O.  Parmenter,  and  Rev.  D.  W. 

iii 


IV  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

Marsh.  To  these  and  many  others,  whose  suggestions  have  been 
most  valuable,  cordial  acknowledgments  of  their  kindnesses  are  due. 
The  photographs,  from  which  the  large  majority  of  the  illustrations 
were  made,  were  the  work  of  Mr.  J.  L.  Lovell,  of  Amherst.  A  few 
were  furnished  by  Mr.  H.  N.  Potter,  of  the  class  of  1891  in  Am- 
herst College,  and  by  the  Notman  Photographic  Company  of  Boston. 
A  number  of  the  illustrations  of  scenes  outside  of  Amherst,  that 
otherwise  would  not  have  been  presented  here,  are  loaned  by  Wade, 
Warner  &  Co.,  of  Northampton,  from  "  Picturesque  Hampshire."  A 
picture  from  the  "92  Olio"  is  also  used. 

AMHERST,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
June,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-one. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

AMHERST  OF  THE  PAST I 

THE  HARTFORD  REVOLT  —  SETTLEMENT  OF  HADLEY  —  A  GLIMPSE  AT 
EARLY  AMHERST  —  A  TOWN  AT  LAST  —  WARS  AND  RUMORS  OF  WARS. 

THE   CONNECTICUT  VALLEY 16 

THE  BEAUTY  OF  AN  AUGUST  DAY  —  CHARACTERISTIC  FLOWERS  AND  BIRDS 

—  LITERATURE  OF  THE  VALLEY  —  ITS  GEOLOGY  —  A  FEW  HISTORICAL 
GLIMPSES. 

A  FEW  DELIGHTFUL   DRIVES 33 

VIEWS  FROM  HOLYOKE — CHARMING  HADLEY  —  THE  "  MEADOW  ClTY"  — 
BLOOD-STAINED  DEERFIELD  —  OTHER  ATTRACTIVE  PLACES. 

AMHERST  OF  THE   PRESENT 48 

ITS  SITUATION  —  MATERIAL  CONDITION  —  GLIMPSES  ALONG  THE  STREETS 
OF  THE  VILLAGE  —  NORTH  AMHERST  —  THE  "Cnr"  —  EAST  STREET  — 
SOUTH  AMHERST. 

AMHERST   COLLEGE 87 

A  GLANCE  AT  ITS  HISTORY  —  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  PRESENT  —  THE 
SUMMER  SCHOOL  OF  LANGUAGES  —  A  TOUR  OF  THE  COLLEGE  BUILDINGS 

—  THE  GREEK  LETTER  FRATERNITIES  —  THEIR  HOUSES. 

THE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE .161 

HISTORICAL  NOTES  —  PRESENT  CONDITIONS  —  THE  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS 

—  A  GLANCE  AT  THE  BUILDINGS. 

NOTEWORTHY   BUSINESS   FIRMS 189 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Agricultural  and  Physical  Laboratory,  183. 
Alpha  Delta  Phi  House,  The  Old,  137. 
Alpha  Delta  Phi  House,  The  New,  139. 
Amherst,  Jeffrey,  First  Lord,  9. 
Amherst  House,  The,  57. 
Appleton 'Cabinet ;  Amherst  College,  121. 

Barrett  Gymnasium,  The,  124. 
Belchertown  Common,  A  View  of,  45. 
Beta  Theta  Pi  House,  The,  149. 
Birthplace   of  Charles   Dudley  Warner  at 

Plainfield,  23. 

Botanic  Museum  and  Plant  House,  185. 
Bryant's  Home  at  Cummington,  22. 

Chapel  and  Dormitories,  The;  Amherst 
College,  125. 

Chapel  and  Library,  The;  Agricultural 
College,  167. 

Chemical  Laboratory,  The;  Agricultural 
College,  179. 

Chi  Phi  House,  The,  151. 

College  Church,  The  ;  Amherst  College,  115. 

College  Hall,  95. 

Common,  looking  toward  Amherst  Col- 
lege, The,  53. 

Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  House,  The,  133. 

Delta  Upsilon  House,  The,  159. 

Drill  Hall,  The  ;  Agricultural  College,  163. 

Elm  Street  in  Hatfield,  38. 

Ferry,  A  Picturesque,  32. 

First  Congregational  Meeting-House  and 
Parsonage  in  1788,  77. 

First  Congregational  Church,  79. 

First  Victoria  Regia  grown  without  Arti- 
ficial Heat,  The,  43. 

Fishing-Rod  Factory,  The,  40. 

Flower  Field  at  Pansy  Park,  A,  42. 

Grace  Episcopal  Church,  61. 

Grand  Stand  on  Pratt  Field,  The,  129. 

Glimpse  of  Smith  College,  A,  36. 

Hatfield,  Elm  Street  in,  38. 

Henry  T.  Morgan  Library,  The ;  Amherst 

College,  99. 
Huntington  Estate,  The,  37. 

Insectary,  The;  Agricultural  College,  187. 
Jeffrey,  First  Lord  Amherst,  9. 

Laboratory    Building,    The ;     Agricultural 

College,  177. 
Library,  The  Henry  T.  Morgan  ;  Amherst 

College,  99. 


Library,   The    Chapel    and;     Agricultural 

College,  167. 
Looking  toward  North  Amherst,  39. 

Main  Street,  Amherst,  71. 

Map  of  Amherst,  49. 

Mather  Art  Collection,  The,  109. 

Mill  Valley,  75. 

Mount  Holyoke,  34. 

Mount  Holyoke  College,  South  Hadley,  47. 

Mount  Lincoln,  The  Tower  on,  41. 

Mount  Pleasant  House,  67. 

Mount  Warner,  Looking  toward,  17. 

North  Amherst  Center,  83. 
North  College  Dormitory,  The  ;  Agricultu- 
ral College,  175. 
North  Hadley,  A  Scene  in,  19. 
North  Pleasant  Street,  64. 

Oak  Grove  School,  73. 

Observatory,  Woods  Cabinet  and;  Amherst 

College,  136. 
Ox-Bow   in    1840   and    1890,   from    Mount 

Holyoke,  The,  24. 

Pansy  Park,  A  Flower  Field  in,  42. 
Phi  Delta  Theta  House,  The,  155. 
Picturesque  Ferry,  A,  32. 
Pond  in  Belchertown,  The,  44. 
Pratt  Gymnasium,  The,  119. 
President's    House,    The;     Amherst    Col- 
lege, 101. 
Psi  Upsilon  House,  The,  143. 

Russell    Church   and   Elmwood   House  in 
Hadley,  The,  35. 

Scene  in  North  Hadley,  A,  19. 
Smith  College,  A  Glimpse  of,  36. 
South  Amherst  Center,  85. 
South  College  Dormitory,  The ;  Agricultu- 
ral College,  171. 

Theta  Delta  Chi  House,  The,  145. 

"  The  Terrace,"  69. 

Town  Hall,  The,  65. 

Tower  on  Mount  Lincoln,  The,  41. 

Town  from  the  College  Chapel,  The,  91. 

View   from   the   College  Library,  Amherst 

College,  89. 
View  of  Belchertown  Common,  A,  45. 

Walker  Hall,  in. 

West  Street  of  Hadley,  The,  27. 

Williston  Hall,  105. 

Woods  Cabinet  and  Observatory,  136. 


AMHERST  OF  THE 
PAST. 

THE  HARTFORD  REVOLT— SETTLEMENT  OF  HADLEY 
—  A  GLIMPSE  AT  EARLY  AMHERST  — A  TOWN  AT 
LAST—  WARS  AND  RUMORS  OF  WARS. 

7T  MHERST  was  settled  from  the  west.  It  lies  among 
^Y  tne  lower  foot-hills  of  the  Green  Mountains,  east 
of  old  Hadley,  of  which  it  long  formed  a  part.  It 
took  one  hundred  years  for  the  tide  of  English  immigra- 
tion to  get  less  than  one  hundred  miles  inland  from  the 
shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  Amherst.  The  movement, 
like  that  of  the  Pilgrims  through  Holland  to  Plymouth 
Rock,  was  roundabout,  —  first  southeastward,  into  the 
State  of  Connecticut ;  thence  northward,  along  the  river 
to  Hadley ;  and  finally  eastward,  involving  the  entrance 
to  Amherst  from  the  west. 

The  original  settlers,  coming  mainly  from  Hadley  and 
from  Hatfield,  then  a  part  of  Hadley,  were  nearly  all  the 
descendants  of  the  earliest  Hadley  settlers.  Their  ancestors,  with  few 
exceptions,  had  come  from  England  to  Massachusetts  Bay  between  1631 
and  1635,  and  finding  near  the  shore  less  land  and  less  freedom  than 
they  wished,  sent  explorers,  in  1633,  by  land  and  water  to  the  Con- 
necticut River.  In  1635  and  l636  tnev  moved  through  the  wilderness 
to  the  fertile  valley,  settling  at  Wethersfield  and  Hartford.  There  they 
remained  for  almost  a  generation,  until  religious  disputes  in  1759  and 
1 760  led  a  part  of  the  body  to  move  to  Hadley. 


2  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

It  is  interesting  to  look  back  upon  the  principles  which  caused  the 
division  of  the  Connecticut  settlements.  The  differences  at  Hartford 
occasioning  the  up-river  movement  sprang  largely  from  divergent  theo- 
ries of  government.  The  friends  of  Rev.  John  Hooker,  known  in  England 
as  the  light  of  the  western  churches,  sought  to  obtain  a  larger  personal 
liberty  denied  them  at  Hartford.  The  first  lecture  of  this  good  man  at 
Hartford  sounded  a  note  that  should  never  be  forgotten  in  the  history 
of  liberty  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  it  foreshadowed  in  a 
wonderful  manner  the  truths  which  lay  at  the  basis  of  the  Federal 
government  founded  more  than  a  century  later. 

On  a  Thursday,  the  ist  of  May,  1638,  his  text  was,  "Take  you  wise 
men,  and  understanding,  and  known  among  your  tribes,  and  I  will  make 
them  rulers  over  you  "  (Deut.  i.  13).  He  laid  down  "  Doctrine  i.  That 
the  choice  of  the  public  magistrates  belongs  unto  the  people  by  God's 
own  allowance.  2.  The  privilege  of  election  which  belongs  to  the 
people,  therefore,  must  be  exercised  not  according  to  their  humors,  but 
according  to  the  blessed  will  and  law  of  God.  3.  They  who  have  power 
to  appoint  officers  and  magistrates,  it  is  their  power  also  to  set  bounds 
and  limitations  of  the  power  and  place  to  which  they  call  them."  And 
he  gave  as  reasons :  "  i .  Because  the  foundation  of  authority  is  laid 
firstly  in  the  free  consent  of  the  people.  2.  Because,  by  a  free  choice, 
the  hearts  of  the  people  will  be  more  inclined  to  the  laws  of  the  persons, 
and  more  ready  to  yield." 

On  such  broad  principles  were  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  Connecticut 
Valley  nurtured,  and  such  principles  were  especially  cherished  by  the 
parents  and  grandparents  of  the  first  settlers  of  Amherst. 

Sixty-eight  years  intervened  between  the  occupation  of  Hadley  in 
1659  and  the  settlement  of  Amherst,  although  the  lands  of  the  latter 
place  were  more  elevated,  lay  but  four  miles  away,  and  were  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  town. 

The  history  of  Hadley's  own  "  Middle  Street "  makes  this  fact  not  at 
all  surprising.  It  was  not  occupied  for  fifty-three  years  after  the  "  West 
Street,"  and  in  1720  it  had  only  twenty  families.  The  lots  were  first 
laid  out  by  vote  of  the  town  in  1684.  In  1687  most  of  them  were  given 
to  inhabitants  of  the  town  on  condition  that  they  build  within  three 
years.  An  Indian  war  breaking  out  the  following  year,  no  one  dared 
live  outside  of  the  fortifications ;  and  the  grants  had  to  be  renewed  in 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  3 

1690  and  1692,  only  to  be  further  delayed  in  their  settlement  by  the 
French  and  Indian  War  until  1713. 

In  addition  to  the  motive  of  personal  safety,  the  wish  to  be  near  the 
common  meeting-house,  and  to  perpetuate  the  home  and  village  life  of 
England,  did  much  to  influence  the  people  to  move,  when  they  did 
move,  in  large  rather  than  in  small  bodies.  The  flow  of  population 
from  England  was  checked  about  that  time,  thus  retarding  the  growth 
of  the  colonies  away  from  the  seacoast. 

It  is  very  clear  that  the  Hadley  settlers  did  not  realize  the  value  of 
the  land  lying  at  a  distance  from  the  river.  They  complained  in  1673 
that  most  of  their  woodland  was  a  "  barren  pine-plain,  capable  of  very 
little  improvement,"  and  accordingly  their  boundaries  were  widened  by 
the  General  Court  so  as  to  "  run  five  miles  up  the  river  and  five  miles 
down  the  river  and  six  miles  from  their  meeting-house  eastward."  This 
grant  gave  them  all  the  land  now  included  in  the  town  of  Amherst,  but 
ten  years  after  they  begged  for  more,  saying  that  "  the  inhabitants  are 
shut  up  on  the  east  and  north  by  a  desolate  and  barren  desert,"  and 
"  the  young  people  are  straightened  for  want  of  enlargement  and  remove 
to  remote  places  "  rather  than  live  in  Amherst.  This  petition  brought 
them  in  May,  1683,  an  addition  four  miles  square  between  Hadley  and 
Springfield,  extending  eastward  from  the  Connecticut  River.  It  proved 
useless  to  them  during  the  Indian  wars,  and  was  not  even  surveyed 
until  1715. 

The  following  vote,  passed  by  the  town  of  Hadley  on  tke  4th  of 
March,  1 700,  may  still  be  deciphered  in  the  old  record-book,  and  it 
shaped  for  all  time  the  positions  of  the  main  streets  and  the  lots  of 
Amherst,  then  known  as  East  Hadley  :  — 

"  Voted  by  the  town,  that  three  miles  and  one-quarter  eastward  from  the  meeting- 
house, and  so  from  the  north  side  of  Mount  Holyoke  unto  Mill  River,  shall  lye  as 
common  lands  forever,  supposing  that  the  line  will  take  in  the  new  swamp. 

"  Voted,  that  the  rest  of  the  commons,  eastward,  shall  be  laid  out  in  three  divisions, 
that  is  to  say,  between  the  road  leading  to  Brookfield,  and  the  Mill  River,  notwith- 
standing there  is  liberty  for  the  cutting  of  wood  and  timber  so  long  as  it  lieth 
unfenced  ;  there  is  likewise  to  be  left  between  every  division  forty  rods  for  highways, 
and  what  will  be  necessary  to  be  left  for  highways  eastward  and  West  through  every 
division,  is  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  measurers  ;  and  every  one  to  have  a 
proportion  in  the  third  division,  and  every  householder  to  have  a  ^50  allotment  and 
all  others  who  are  now  the  proper  inhabitants  of  Hadley,  16  years  old  and  upward, 
to  have  a  ^25  allotment  in  said  commons." 


4  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

Rendered  into  language  that  is  more  intelligible  at  the  present  day, 
this  vote  meant  to  reserve  forever  as  common  property  the  tract  of  land 
lying  between  Mount  Holyoke  on  the  south,  and  Mill  River  on  the 
north,  and  extending  from  the  "West  Street"  of  Hadley  eastward  to  a 
north  and  south  line  three  and  a  quarter  miles  from  the  meeting-house, 
then  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  street.  The  land  east  of  this  "  Inner 
Commons,"  the  present  Amherst,  was  to  be  divided  into  three  sections 
separated  by  highways  running  north  and  south,  which  are  now  repre- 
sented by  Pleasant  and  East  streets,  and  these  to  be  intersected  by 
cross-streets,  running  east  and  west. 

Things  moved  slowly  in  those  days,  and  it  was  three  years  later  — 
May,  1 703  —  when  the  town  measurers  announced  that  the  instructions 
of  the  vote  had  been  carried  out.  Portions  of  East  Hadley  were  allotted 
to  individuals,  whether  they  became  settlers  or  remained  in  the  old 
street,  and  the  same  names  occur  in  the  record  of  this  division  of 
land  as  may  be  found  in  the  later  division  of  South  Hadley.  The  allot- 
ments were  not  made  so  much  for  immediate  settlement  as  to  allow 
the  separate  ownership  of  wood,  pasture,  and  swamp  lands,  and  most 
of  those  who  were  given  lots  never  intended  to  reside  upon  them.  So 
it  was  not  until  1727  or  1728  that  the  new  territory  began  to  be  occu- 
pied, although  tradition  relates  that  a  hardy  woodsman  named  Foote 
attempted  unsuccessfully  to  live  by  fishing  and  trapping  near  what  is 
known  as  "  East  Street."  For  years  that  portion  of  the  town  lying  just 
north  of  .the  Second  Congregational  meeting-house  had  the  name  of 
"  Foote's  Folly  Swamp." 

The  three  divisions  of  East  Hadley  are  plainly  indicated  to-day  by 
the  two  north  and  south  roads,  of  which  the  village  common  and  the 
East  Street  common  are  parts.  Both  of  these  highways,  originally  forty 
rods  wide,  have  been  narrowed  from  time  to  time  as  the  roadways 
became  improved,  and  there  was  less  need  of  making  detours  to  avoid 
the  hummocks  and  treacherous  mud- holes  which  first  rendered  trav- 
elling sinuous.  Recent  measurements  made  for  The  Handbook  of 
Amherst  locate  this  west  highway  as  lying  between  the  stone  carriage 
block  in  front  of  the  Amherst  House  on  Amity  Street  and  the  residence 
of  H.  B.  Edwards  on  Lessey  Street.  The  present  position  of  Amity 
Street  is  nearly  that  of  the  middle  one  of  the  three  cross-highways  laid 
out  in  the  same  width.  In  1754,  Hadley  reduced  the  west  street  to 
twenty  rods'  width,  and  the  east  street  to  twelve,  and  a  large  part  of  the 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  5 

business  of  the  precinct  meetings  for  fifteen  years  —  from  1767  to  1782 
—  was  to  discontinue  parts  of  these  broad  highways. 

.  The  first  of  the  three  divisions  was  bounded  by  the  line,  "  three  miles 
and  one-quarter  from  the  Meeting-house,"  at  Hadley  and  the  west 
street,  now  Pleasant  Street ;  the  second  division  lay  between  the  west 
and  east  streets,  and  the  third  extended  a  mile  from  the  east  street  to 
the  Pelham  hills.  The  first  two  were  two  hundred  and  forty  rods  wide, 
and  all  stretched  from  the  Bay  road  on  the  south  to  the  Mill  River  on 
the  north.  Ninety-seven  persons  received  lots  in  either  the  first  or  the 
second  divisions,  and  all  were  given  sections  in  the  third  for  pasture 
land. 

The  first  authentic  record  that  the  grants  of  land  in  East  Hadley  had 
been  occupied  is  in  the  vote  of  Hadley,  January  5,  1730,  to  lay  out  an 
acre  of  land  for  a  cemetery  for  the  "  east  inhabitants,"  who  are  known  to 
have  numbered  at  that  time  eighteen  families.  The  names  of  these 
early  settlers  are  John  Ingram,  Sr.,  John  Ingram,  Jr.,  Ebenezer  Kellogg, 
John  Cowls,  Jonathan  Cowls,  Samuel  Boltwood,  Samuel  Hawley,  Na- 
thaniel Church,  John  Wells,  Aaron  Smith,  Nathaniel  Smith,  Richard 
Chauncey,  Stephen  Smith,  John  Nash,  Jr.,  Joseph  Wells,  Ebenezer 
Scovil,  Ebenezer  Ingram,  Ebenezer  Dickinson.  Twelve  of  these  men 
came  from  Hadley,  and  the  others  from  Hatfield. 

The  first  step  toward  the  separation  of  the  two  settlements  was  taken 
in  1733,  when  Hadley  voted  that  the  "  east  inhabitants  have  a  part  of 
their  taxes  abated  upon  their  hiring  a  minister  of  their  own,"  previous  to 
this  every  one  being  obliged  to  make  the  journey  to  the  meeting-house 
at  old  Hadley  for  Sabbath  worship.  The  parishes  were  finally  divided 
by  an  act  of  the  General  Court,  December  31,  1734,  making  East  Had- 
ley the  "  Third  Precinct "  of  Hadley  on  the  condition  of  its  settling  a 
"learned  orthodox  minister,"  and  erecting  a  meeting-house.  The 
decree  of  the  General  Court  bounded  the  new  precinct,  it  "  Being  of 
the  contents  of  two  miles  and  three-quarters  in  breadth,  and  seven 
miles  in  length,  bounded  Westerly  on  a  tract  of  land  reserved  by  the 
town  of  Hadley,  to  lye  as  common  forever,  Southerly  on  Boston  road, 
Easterly  on  Equivalent  lands,  and  Northerly  on  the  town  of  Sunderland." 

While  the  church  affairs  of  the  precinct  thus  became  distinct  from 
those  of  the  parent  village,  town  business  was  still  transacted  in  the 
original  settlement,  and  the  town  officers  were  almost  entirely  from  that 
place. 


6  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

The  first  minister  of  the  Third  Precinct,  the  Rev.  David  Parsons,  who 
was  born  at  Maiden,  began  his  labors  in  November,  1735,  settling  per- 
manently four  years  later,  when  he  was  given  money  and  land  for 
building  a  house,  and  was  promised  ^100  salary,  with  an  increase  in 
proportion  to  the  growth  of  the  population.  The  meeting-house  begun 
in  1 738  was  located  upon  the  site  of  the  present  college  Observatory, 
and,  although  not  completed  until  1753,  was  occupied  some  time  prior 
to  1742.  The  history  of  this  First  Congregational  Church  is  traced  at 
some  length  in  another  portion  of  this  book.  It  suffices  to  say  here 
that  its  development  and  growth  were  parallel  with  the  development  and 
growth  of  the  town,  the  paths  diverging  only  when  later  religious  differ- 
ences resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Second  Parish,  and  the  town, 
as  a  political  body,  discontinued  its  support  of  public  worship. 

In  1739  Oliver  Partridge  resurveyed  the  town  of  Hadley,  determining 
what  still  remains  the  eastern  boundary  of  Amherst.  He  followed  the 
provisions  of  the  grant  to  Hadley  in  1673,  finding  the  point  exactly  six 
miles  east  of  the  old  meeting-house,  and  running  by  compass  a  north 
and  south  line  through  it.  The  first  surveyors  had  done  their  work 
without  a  compass,  but  they  were  in  reality  more  accurate  than  Partridge, 
for  the  magnetic  variation  changed  the  line  so  that  the  lots  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  third  division  were  widened  considerably,  while 
those  at  the  north  were  narrowed.  To  offset  this  loss  of  territory,  the 
town  allowed  about  six  hundred  acres  on  the  Flat  Hills  to  those  who 
had  suffered  by  the  relocation  of  the  line. 

The  Third  Precinct  of  Hadley  sent  its  share  of  men  to  the  Indian  wars 
that  raged  intermittently  up  and  down  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut between  the  years  of  1744  and  1763.  Many  brave  men  were 
sacrificed,  but  among  those  surviving,  several  gained  the  prominence  and 
ability  that  placed  them  at  the  front  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolutionary 
War. 

The  year  1 749  finds  the  first  indication  that  the  settlement  is  alive  to 
the  necessity  of  providing  the  rising  generation  with  opportunities  for 
gaining  some  education.  Appropriations,  liberal  for  the  times,  were 
made  "  to  Hire  three  School  Dames  for  three  or  four  Months  in  the 
Summer  seson  to  Larne  children  to  read."  The  pupils  met  at  the 
teachers'  homes,  for  there  were  no  school-houses  until  after  1 764,  when 
four  were  ordered  to  be  built,  a  "  North,  a  South,  a  West  Middle,  and  a 
South  East  Middle."  Josiah  Pierce  began  to  teach  October  27,  1765. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  7 

He  was  the  first  school-master,  and  spent  part  of  the  year  at  each  of  the 
"  Middle  "  school-houses.  A  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  he  was  paid 
$5.33  a  month,  adding  to  this  by  keeping  an  evening  school,  and  preach- 
ing at  the  churches  of  the  surrounding  places  for  twenty  shillings  a  Sun- 
day. It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  "  he  dismissed  his  school  in  disgust 
March  29,  1769,"  as  the  records  have  it.  The  school-house  of  this 
hard-working  pedagogue  stood  upon  the  village  common  near  the  spot 
now  marked  by  the  watering- trough.  In  1 784  Amherst  voted  "  to  set 
up  six  schools."  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  before  Amherst  College 
had  graduated  a  single  student,  thirty-nine  Amherst  boys  had  obtained 
degrees,  thirteen  from  Williams,  ten  from  Dartmouth,  seven  from  Yale, 
and  three  from  Harvard. 

Owing  to  the  incorporation  of  South  Hadley  as  a  district  in  1753,  the 
name  "  East  Hadley  "  was  changed  to  the  "  Second  Precinct  of  Had- 
ley," and  six  years  later,  just  a  century  after  the  founding  of  Hadley,  the 
"  Second  Precinct  "  was  made  a  district.  Governor  Pownell,  in  signing 
the  act  of  incorporation,  February  13,  1 759,  gave  it  the  name  of  Amherst, 
in  honor  of  General  Jeffrey  Amherst,  prominent  at  that  time  as  the  com- 
mander of  the  memorable  expedition  against  Louisburg,  and  still  later 
as  commander-in-chief  and  field  marshal  of  the  English  armies.  In 
1776  General  Amherst  was  created  a  baron. 

The  new  district  held  its  first  legal  meeting  March  19,  1759.  From 
that  time  on,  the  spirit  of  independence  and  thrift  seemed  to  take  a 
firmer  hold  upon  the  people.  They  toiled  diligently  for  the  betterment 
of  their  estates,  laying  aside  the  generous  store  of  English  money 
that  was  to  prove  so  useful  during  the  hard  times  of  the  approach- 
ing war. 

Much  of  the  public  business  previously  centering  exclusively  in  the 
mother  settlement  was  transferred  to  Amherst,  with  the  beneficial  results 
always  attending  an  interest  in  home  affairs.  In  1758  the  white  popu- 
lation actually  outnumbered  that  of  Hadley,  and  in  1776  had  become 
some  two  hundred  greater  than  in  any  of  the  surrounding  villages. 
Nearly  all  the  material  conditions  of  the  district  surpassed  those  of  the 
three  villages  which  originally  belonged  to  Hadley. 

Regular  communication  was  opened  with  Boston  in  1767  by  the  enter- 
prise of  Simeon  Smith,  an  Amherst  citizen.  Previous  to  that  time  all 
travelling  had  been  done  on  horseback ;  but  Smith  possessed  a  wagon 
that  is  recorded  as  being  strong  enough  to  bear  a  ton  of  freight.  He 


8  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

made  a  trip,  by  way  of  the  old  Bay  road,  in  about  a  week,  and  found 
sufficient  trade  to  bring  him  a  good  profit,  the  most  remunerative  part 
of  his  business  being  the  importation  of  great  quantities  of  New  England 
rum. 

Youthful  Amherst  was  not  without  its  "  ordinaries,"  or  taverns,  even 
in  the  days  of  its  smallest  population.  Ebenezer  Kellogg  was  licensed 
in  1734,  .as  the  first  ordinary- keeper.  He  kept  his  place  for  only  three 
years,  but  within  the  next  few  years  his  successors  were  so  numerous 
that  a  record  of  them  would  be  wearisome.  At  the  time  he  opened  his 
tavern,  the  men  of  the  town  numbered  twenty-nine,  and  only  three 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  had  been  cleared  and  improved.  One 
groggery  for  every  sixty  persons,  the  records  say,  was  the  proportion  in 
1 783,  when  there  were  seven  hundred  inhabitants. 

All  this  time  the  residents  on  the  outskirts  of  the  district  had  been 
journeying  several  miles  each  Sabbath  day  to  attend  church  services  in 
the  village.  In  1772  they  united  in  advocating  a  division  of  the  origi- 
nal parish  so  that  the  north  and  south  sections  of  the  district  should 
each  have  a  church,  the  one  in  the  centre  to  be  discontinued.  The 
same  instincts  that  influence  men  to-day  were  no  less  active  then,  and 
the  prospect  of  having  their  place  of  worship  removed  to  an  inconven- 
ient distance  so  alarmed  the  villagers  that  they  begged  the  General 
Court  to  interfere  in  the  matter.  Their  petition  was  an  able  document. 
The  records  show  that  a  committee  from  the  august  body  of  legislators 
visited  Amherst  in  March,  1774,  but  their  report  and  the  entire  question 
was  soon  forgotten  in  the  excitement  of  the  war  immediately  following. 
Church  matters  did  not  become  prominent  again  until  1781.  A  part  of 
the  parish  withdrew  in  accordance  with  a  vote  passed  October  15,  1782, 
and  constituted  themselves  the  Second  Congregational  Parish.  They 
had  opposed  the  selection  of  Rev.  David  Parsons,  Jr.,  to  succeed  his 
father  as  pastor,  but  were  overruled  by  the  majority.  The  incorporation 
of  this  new  parish  marked  the  end  of  the  control  of  religious  affairs  by 
the  district. 

Amherst  assumed  the  privileges  of  a  town  about  this  time  by  electing 
Nathaniel  Dickinson,  Jr.,  a  representative  to  the  Provincial  Congress, 
which  met  successively  at  Salem,  Concord,  and  Cambridge.  The  name 
of  "town,"  used  without  authority  in  the  records  after  1776,  was  legal- 
ized by  a  general  law  of  the  State  in  1876. 

Amherst  must  have  proved  a  warm  place  for  the  Tories  of  the  Revo- 


\ 


Page  9. 


JEFFREY,    FIRST    LORD    AMHERST, 


m 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  II 

lutionary  times.  The  character  of  the  American  ancestry  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Hadley  and  Amherst,  especially  of  that  from  Hartford,  would 
lead  one  to  expect  to  find  men  ready  to  stand  up  for  freedom  and 
human  rights  at  the  risk  of  life  and  property.  With  most  of  the  men 
of  Amherst  this  was  true,  but,  as  in  not  a  few  cases  elsewhere,  the  highly 
educated  classes  were  more  loyal  to  the  king  of  England  and  opposed 
to  the  popular  idea  of  freedom,  than  the  body  of  the  people.  The 
names  of  these  opponents  of  the  war  included  many  of  the  leading 
citizens,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  no  less  a  personage  than  the 
Rev.  David  Parsons,  Sr.  Besides  censuring  and  even  imprisoning 
several  .of  these  obnoxious  persons  for  being  "  notoriously  inimical  to 
American  liberty,"  the  town  voted  to  support  whatever  action  the 
Continental  Congress  might  take  for  the  safety  of  the  colonies,  and 
in  January,  1776,  actually  deprived  those  "not  owning  independence 
of  the  crown  of  Great  Britain "  of  the  right  of  voting  upon  town 
matters. 

Even  if  former  leaders  be  lukewarm  and  hostile  at  the  time  of  a 
revolution  in  thought  or  action,  the  people  find  new  men  to  go  before 
them  in  the  paths  they  are  determined  to  tread.  It  was  so  at  Amherst. 
Men  less  polished  than  collegians,  some  of  them  diamonds  in  the  rough, 
some  profane,  came  to  the  front  in  place  of  the  more  accomplished 
Royalist  scholars  and  gentlemen. 

These  men  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence at  Boston.  Having  "  Red  and  Considered  "  the  letter 
from  Boston,  they  voted,  March  14,  1774,  to  send  a  reply.  Their  letter 
was  not  a  triumph  of  spelling  or  oratory,  but  it  was  a  mine  of  sturdy 
sense.  They  had  no  more  respect  for  capitals  than  for  kings.  One 
may  not  forget  that  Noah  Webster  and  his  spelling-book  had  not  yet 
appeared,  and  often  in  the  antique  dress  of  the  letters  of  the  time  there 
is  something  so  grotesque  as  to  cause  a  smile ;  but  one  feels,  when 
reading  the  quaint  spelling,  much  as  did  Dr.  Holmes  at  the  sight  of  the 
old  man,  in  "  The  Last  Leaf"  :  — 

"  I  know  it  is  a  sin 
For  me  to  sit  and  grin 

At  him  here; 

But  the  old  three-cornered  hat, 
And  the  breeches,  —  and  all  that,  — 

Are  so  queer." 


12  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

But,  after  all,  our  own  spelling  is  unreasonable,  and  the  letter  of  the 
patriots  is  too  earnest  for  more  than  momentary  merriment.  This  is 
what  they  wrote  :  — 

"  To  the  Respectable  Committee  of  Correspondence  in  the  town  of  Boston. 

"  Gentn. :  We  think  it  needless  to  Recapitulate  all  those  grievancses  Which  we 
suffer  in  Common  with  our  opprest  Brethren  and  Neighbors.  Sufficient  to  Say  that 
tho  we'  have  been  Long  silent  we  are  not  insensible  of  the  oppressions  we  suffer  and 
the  ruin  which  threatens  us  or  regardlis  of  the  Diabolical  Designs  of  our  Mercenary 
and  Manevolent  Enemies  Foreign-  and  Domestic  and  are  ready  not  onley  to  risque 
but  even  to  Sacrifice  our  Lives  and  Properties  in  Defence  of  our  just  rights  &  liberties 
at  Present  we  are  only  Galled  not  subdued  and  think  ourselves  heapy  in  having  such 
vigilant  and  faithfull  gardians  of  our  rights  in  the  Metropolis  on  hoom  we  Can  Depend 
to  Call  on  us  in  Season  to  unite  with  our  suffering  Countrymen  in  the  Common  Cause 
of  America  we  hope  and  beg  that  you  will  Still  Persevere  in  that  most  Honorrble  & 
importent  Imployment  of  watching  over  us  with  the  Same  Care  and  Fidelity  which 
has  hitherto  Distinguish,d  &  grately  Dignified  your  Characters  in  the  Estimation  of 
all  who  have  a  just  sence  of  that  best  of  Blessings  Liberty  &  an  Equal  abhorence  of 
that  tame  submition  which  tends  to  Entail  on  our  Posterrity  that  worst  of  Curses 
Slavery. 

"  Every  Avenue  to  the  Royal  Ear  seems  to  be  blocked  up  by  the  gross  falsities  & 
Designd  Misrepresentations  of  those  from  sum  of  whom  at  Least  we  might  have 
Expected  better  things  but  there  is  a  King  who  Cannot  be  Deceived  &  who  will  not 
be  mocked  who  has  pointed  out  a  never  failing  resource  when  Petitions  &  Remon- 
stances,  Truth  &  justice  are  unsuccessfully  opposed  to  Tironey  and  Oppression  fals- 
hood  &  Corruption  &  when  you  feel  that  impulse  which  will  not  brook  longer  Delay, 
the  wisdum  of  the  People  will  naturally  write  in  mode  of  the  best  Appeal,  to  which 
you  most  Distant  Brethren  Expect  to  be  summoned  unless  prevent,d  by  a  sudding 
unexpected  &  very  favourable  Chandge  of  affears.  their  are  whom  Justice  forbids  to 
live  but  whom  we  would  spare  to  Convince  the  world  we  Despise  their  utmost  hate 
&  malicious  Cunning,  the  Colonies  united  are  invinciably  free  &  we  dout  not  you 
are  Convinc,d  that  the  Preservation  of  that  union  outweighs  every  other  Considera- 
tion and  is  at  Present  our  most  Important  Concern,  while  that  is  secure  we  have 
nothing  to  fear  but  may  Laugh  at  all  attempts  to  Enslave  us  we  know  of  no  punish- 
ment which  Can  be  Inflicted  on  those  vilens  in  Exalted  Stations  adequate  to  their 
own  reflections  &  remorse  accompanyd  with  our  Neglect,  Contempt  &  Detestation 
but  at  the  same  time  should  think  ourselves  happier  if  Everey  banefull  Noxious  weed 
Could  by  aney  means  be  Eradicated  from  this  our  fair  garden  of  Liberty,  we  Entirely 
approve  &  Concurr  with  you  in  every  measure  hitherto  adopted  &  Conducted  &  return 
our  gratefull  thanks  to  the  People  of  Boston  &  the  Neighboring  towns  in  a  Perticuler 
manner  for  the  seasonable  Indeavours  &  mandley  opposition  to  prevent  the  Landing 
of  the  East  India  Companys  teas  which  plan  we  are  Convinc,d  was  artefully  Projected 
to  open  the  gate  for  the  admition  of  Tyrany  &  oppression  with  all  their  Rapacious 
followers  to  Stalk  at  Large  &  uncontrol,d  to  Ravage  our  fare  &  Dear  bought  Posses- 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  13 

sions.  Everey  measure  which  shall  appear  Conducive  to  the  Publick  good  we  are 
warranted  to  assure  you  will  always  be  approved  &  support,d  by  a  Large  Majorrity  in 
this  District  and  [y?]our  Continual  Correspondence  as  Long  as  you  shall  think  occa- 
tion  requires  meet  with  Due  respect  &  attention  we  are  in  behalf  of  the  District  very 
Respectfully 

"  Gent'm 

"  your  oblig'd  &  most  hble,  servts 


MOSES  DICKINSON 
REUBEN  DICKINSON- 
JACOB   MCDANIEL 

NATH'LL  DICKINSON 
JOSEPH  WILLIAMS 


Committee 


Their  actions  fully  sustained  their  words.  The  usual  committees  of 
"  Correspondence,"  "  Safety,"  and  "  Inspection "  were  chosen,  and 
among  the  members  were  many  who  figured  prominently  in  the  affairs 
of  the  colonies.  A  representative  was  sent  to  the  Provincial  Congress, 
and  in  June,  1776,  it  was  voted  "That,  should  the  Honorable  Congress 
for  the  safety  of  the  United  Colonies  in  America ;  Declare  them  Inde- 
pendant  of  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain ;  we  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  of  Amherst  solemnly  engage  with  our  lives  and  fortunes  to  support 
them  in  the  measure." 

Following  April  19,  1775,  Captain  Reuben  Dickinson  gathered  a  com- 
pany of  minute-men,  who  were  under  his  call  between  two  and  four 
weeks,  and  at  their  disbanding  he  enlisted  an  eight-months  company,  of 
which  the  noted  Daniel  Shays  of  Shutesbury,  the  leader  of  the  "  Shays' 
Rebellion,"  was  a  non-commissioned  officer.  Amherst  men  joined  other 
companies  in  varying  numbers.  A  company  under  the  command  of 
Captain  James  Hendrick  of  Amherst  obtained  a  good  many.  Captain 
Dickinson's  command,  and  several  of  the  others  having  men  from  the 
town,  were  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

Later  companies  gathered  by  Captain  Dickinson,  Captain  Harvey, 
and  Captain  Cook,  from  Amherst  and  the  vicinity,  were  in  General 
Gates'  army,  fought  in  the  battles  of  September  19  and  October  7, 1777, 
and  saw  the  surrender  of  General  Burgoyne.  Half  of  the  English  army 
and  the  defeated  general  himself,  passed  through  Hadley  and  along  the 
Bay  road,  then  the  southern  boundary  line  of  the  town,  on  their  way  to 
Boston.  To  this  day  one  of  the  old  families  of  Hadley  are  in  possession 
of  a  sword  presented  by  General  Burgoyne  to  one  of  the  citizens  of  the 
town. 


14  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

During  the  campaigns  of  1777  until  1781,  Amherst  furnished  its  due 
proportion  of  men,  distributed  through  several  companies,  and  in  many 
instances  brave  and  efficient  officers.  Liberal  bounties,  formally  offered 
by  the  town  to  the  enlisting  men,  rapidly  drained  the  store  of  hard 
money  that  had  been  laid  up  by  the  thrifty  farm  folk.  The  Continental 
bills  depreciated  in  value  until  in  1780  a  dollar  in  silver  would  buy  a 
hundred  of  them,  and  a  year  after  two  hundred.  Old  soldiers  boasted 
after  the  hard  times  were  over,  that  $50  had  often  been  paid  for  a  single 
meal. 

The  first  of  the  rewards  of  the  courage,  with  which  each  new  depriva- 
tion of  the  war  had  been  met,  came,  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
assembled  on  the  4th  day  of  September,  1780,  bringing  in  their  votes 
for  a  governor  of  the  new  commonwealth,  as  follows  :  "  The  Hon'ble 
John  Hancock  Esq'r,  Forty  three ;  The  Hon'ble  James  Bowdoin  Esq'r 
eight." 

In  the  State  convention  which  ratified  the  Federal  Constitution,  the 
Amherst  representative,  Daniel  Cooley,  probably  reflected  the  wishes  of 
his  constituents  when  he  voted  against  ratification.  There  were  several 
years  about  this  time  when  the  town  failed  to  send  its  representatives  to 
the  General  Court,  and  at  least  twice  it  was  fined  for  this  neglect. 

An  interesting  description  of  the  town  in  1800  has  been  given  in  Dr. 
Tyler's  able  "  History  of  Amherst  College."  At  that  time  the  only  store 
in  the  village  stood  at  the  corner  of  what  afterward  became  Phoenix 
Row  and  North  Pleasant  Street.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the  row  was 
the  house  later  occupied  by  Noah  Webster.  A  vigorous  distillery  stood 
within  the  square  bounded  by  the  Common  and  Spring  and  College 
streets,  entirely  at  variance,  happily  be  it  said,  with  the  present  ideas  of 
sobriety.  The  situation  of  the  home  of  Levi  Cowles,  on  North  Pleasant 
Street,  and  of  Mrs.  Emerson,  the  Judge  Strong  estate,  mark  the  former 
width  of  the  two  highways,  for  these  buildings  are  among  the  few  then 
standing. 

In  1814  eight  hundred  acres  of  Hadley  were  added  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  town,  and  in  1815  the  southern  boundary  was  changed 
from  the  Bay  road  to  the  top  of  the  Holyoke  range.  At  this  time  there 
were  not  more  than  twenty-five  houses  in  the  village.  Until  several 
years  after  the  college  was  founded  the  centre  of  trade  and  enterprise 
was  at  East  Amherst,  and  there  the  town-meetings  were  held. 

Amherst  became  prominent  in  1787  through  Shays'  Rebellion,  which 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  15 

took  place  almost  within  her  own  borders.  The  deluded  soldiery,  under 
Daniel  Shays,  encamped  and  drilled  upon  the  Pelham  hills,  and  return- 
ing from  their  rash  attempts  to  defy  the  Federal  authority  at  Springfield 
and  Northampton,  were  followed  by  the  regular  troops  across  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  town  to  the  Pelham  hills  again,  whence  they  dispersed 
northward. 

To  the  War  of  1812  the  inhabitants  of  Amherst  were  bitterly  opposed. 
Three  citizens  were  sent  to  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  towns  of 
Hampshire  County,  and  the  memorial  then  adopted  strongly  solicited 
the  Federal  government  to  come  to  some  terms  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  demand  for  troops  that  came  later 
was  promptly  met  by  Amherst,  as  well  as  the  other  towns  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley. 

The  War  of  the  Rebellion  sacrificed  the  lives  of  fifty-eight  of  the 
three  hundred  and  seventy-four  volunteers  from  Amherst ;  and  the 
expenses,  public  and  private,  amounted  to  more  than  £46,000. 


1 6  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 


THE   CONNECTICUT   VALLEY. 

BY  MABEL  LOOMIS  Tonn. 

THE  BEAUTY  OF  AN  AUGUST  DAY  —  CHARACTERISTIC  FLOWERS 
AND  BIRDS— LITERATURE  OF  THE  VALLEY— ITS  GEOLOGY- 
A  FEW  HISTORICAL  GLIMPSES. 

THE  mellow  light  of  a  warm  August  afternoon  lay  shimmering  over 
a  grassy  meadow  road.  No  fences  divided  the  rich  farm  lands  on 
either  side  from  the  road,  or  from  one  another.  The  hum  and 
buzz  of  innumerable  insects  filled  the  fragrant  air,  while  distant  sounds 
of  mowing  could  be  heard  at  intervals,  as  the  rowan  was  being  here 
and  there  gathered  in  by  thrifty  farmers. 

Nearer  at  hand  fields  of  tropical-leaved  tobacco  sent  out  a  slightly 
pungent  odor,  while  an  occasional  tall  stalk,  crowned  with  its  delicate 
pink  blossoms,  was  allowed  to  ripen  and  go  to  seed  in  the  summer 
sunshine. 

In  the  eyes  of  two  travellers,  driving  leisurely  along  this  lovely  way, 
the  whole  scene  was  richly,  sensuously  delightful.  As  they  passed  the 
fields  of  tobacco  and  of  corn,  a  dull  but  continuous  murmur  became 
apparent,  growing  louder,  until  a  large  barn  came  into  view,  from  which 
the  sound  emerged.  Here  a  curious,  and  in  this  day  somewhat  unusual, 
sight  appeared.  Heavy  machinery  was  cutting  into  small  pieces  and 
packing  into  great  compressed  masses  the  succulent  cornstalks,  —  future 
food  for  cattle  when  this  verdant  meadow  should  be  filled  with  snow 
and  ice.  In  other  words,  ensilage  was  in  process  of  manufacture. 
Farther  on,  fields  of  broom-corn,  with  airily  waving  tassels,  bordered  the 
highway.  And  everywhere  were  farmhouses  with  generous  barns,  large 
orchards  in  which  early  apples  began  to  show  sun-warmed  cheeks,  and 
old  elms  full  of  dignity  and  grace.  Toward  the  west  flowed  a  noble 
river,  not  less  than  eight  hundred  feet  wide,  reflecting  the  sky  on  its 
placid  surface.  Still  further  west,  ranges  of  misty  blue  hills  filled  the 
distance,  while  nearer  rose  Mount  Warner,  the  pioneer  of  all  that  ancient 
mountain  brotherhood. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  I/ 

In  the  south  lay  the  rugged  and  picturesque  Holyoke  range,  and  the 
steep  sides  of  Mount  Tom  beyond  the  opening  where  the  river  has 
scooped  its  passage.  Northward,  Mount  Toby  showed  itself  in  a  lumi- 
nous, purple  atmosphere,  a  rich  tone  modified  in  Sugarloaf,  across  the 
river,  by  its  more  scarred  sides  of  red  sandstone.  The  gentle  slope 
of  the  Pelham  and  Shutesbury  hills  eastward  was  densely  green,  and 
but  little  colored  by  distance. 

Over  all  this  homelike  scene  the  caressing  August  sky  and  sunshine 
brooded  tenderly.  Where,  indeed,  could  they  find  a  fairer  tarrying- place  ? 


Looking  toward   Mount  Warner. 

This  lovely  Connecticut  Valley  —  originally  the  Quon-eh-ti-cut,  promi- 
nent in  four  States,  no  less  than  twenty  miles  wide  in  Massachusetts,  the 
garden-spot  of  New  England,  rich,  fertile,  and  beautiful  —  is  full  of 
interest  to  the  geologist,  the  naturalist,  and  the  historian,  as  well  as 
to  him  who  merely  appreciates  the  rare  beauty  of  its  scenery,  or  the 
promise  of  its  luxuriant  crops. 

Pre-eminently  a  farming  region,  the  valley  has  also  many  manufac- 
turing interests,  as  Holyoke,  Springfield,  and  its  other  cities  amply  testify. 
But  its  pastoral  character  remains,  and  the  beauty  of  its  sweet  meadows 
is  as  yet  untouched. 


1 8  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  PIER  ST. 

Many  types  of  old- New  England  houses  abound.  Hadley,  Deerfield, 
and  some  of  the  earlier  villages  still  preserve  the  colonial  shapes  and 
ornaments,  the  fan-lights  above  the  doors,  and  the  old  hip  and  gambrel 
roofs.  Somewhat  later,  a  far  less  beautiful  style  came  into  vogue.  The 
hall,  instead  of  running  straight-forwardly  through  the  centre  of  the  house, 
giving  ample  room  for  stairways,  became  contracted  to  a  mere  entrance 
lobby,  barely  large  enough  to  contain  a  door  into  the  rooms  on  either 
side,  while  a  steep  and  narrow  stairway  was  forced  to  contort  itself  cruelly 
in  order  to  rise  at  all.  These  houses,  however,  have  large,  though  low- 
ceiled  rooms,  and  frequently,  parlor  cupboards  in  the  wainscoted  wall, 
large  fireplaces,  and  elaborately  carved  window  and  door  ornaments. 
Still  later,  came  the  first  "  modern  "  white,  green-blinded  country  house 
with  a  side  wing.  A  single  path  generally  leads  to  the  rarely  used  front 
door,  diverging  just  before  reaching  its  chilling  hospitality  into  a  branch 
walk  to  the  more  homelike  side  door,  where  all  is  cheerful  and  merry, 
where  family  life  surges  in  and  out  over  the  stone  doorstep,  and  hens 
peck  contentedly  about  the  short  grass.  Yet  another  style  of  farm- 
house appears,  whose  long  row  of  sheds  and  out-buildings  reaches  to  an 
astonishing  distance,  terminating  in  an  immense  barn  by  which  the 
modest  and  insignificant  dwelling  is  completely  overshadowed. 

Sturdy  and  pious  as  the  earlier  inhabitants  were,  steadfast  of  purpose, 
and  of  noble  lives,  their  aesthetic  sense  must  have  been  very  much  in 
abeyance.  Too  sadly  common  is  the  fashion  in  this  fair  region,  where 
Nature  spreads  her  most  tempting  glories,  of  setting  an  uncompromising 
barn  directly  between  the  house  and  a  wonderful  view  of  mountain  and 
vale  which  any  summer  tourist  would  go  miles  to  see  for  an  hour. 

The  inoffensive  little  house  is  perhaps  perched  close  to  the  highway, 
and  directly  across  the  road,  in  its  face  and  eyes,  rises  the  dignified 
shelter  of  cattle  and  hay,  shutting  off  all  possible  outlook. 

The  age  of  the  mansard  roof  infliction  is  still  apparent;  but  later 
taste  has  displaced  its  ugliness,  and  smooth,  well-kept  lawns  now  often 
lead  to  charming  houses  of  our  own  day,  which,  while  preserving  the 
best  features  of  early  colonial  architecture,  have  added  without  and 
within  the  beauty  of  a  more  cultured  and  many-sided  life. 

Very  rich  in  flowers,  ferns,  and  mosses  is  this  favored  valley.  In  late 
spring  the  shady  roads  are  lighted  by  the  pale  pink  of  the  laurel,  set  in 
its  dark  green  leaves ;  and  earlier,  arbutus,  hepaticas,  anemones,  and  all 
the  brave  company  of  early  blossoms  fill  the  woods.  Columbine  and 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  21 

cowslips,  wild  azalia,  scarlet  "  painted-cup  "  and  pimpernel,  loose  strife, 
meadow-lilies,  yellow  and  scarlet,  give  place  to  hosts  of  wild  roses  and 
clematis,  while  yet  later  come  cardinal  flowers  and  closed  gentians,  the 
tiny  five-leaved  gentian  and  its  royal  fringed  brother,  brilliant  black- 
alder  berries  glowing  in  the  sun ;  and  last  of  all  the  weird  witch-hazel  holds 
sway  in  the  bare  November  woods,  companioned  by  airy  ghosts  from  the 
milkweed  pots,  and  spectral  maiden-hair,  white  in  its  secluded  recesses. 
And  when 

"The  murmuring  of  bees  has  ceased, 

But  murmuring  of  some 
Posterior,  prophetic, 

Has  simultaneous  come," 

then, 

"  Besides  the  autumn  poets  sing, 

A  few  prosaic  days 
A  little  this  side  of  the  snow, 
And  that  side  of  the  haze. 

"Still  is  the  bustle  in  the  brook, 

Sealed  are  the  spicy  valves, 
Mesmeric  fingers  softly  touch 

The  eyes  of  many  elves." 

—  EMILY  DICKINSON. 

A  merely  technical  list  of  all  the  floral  beauties  of  the  region  would 
fill  a  goodly  volume.  Professor  Tuckerman's  catalogue  of  the  lichens 
shows  their  rare  variety  and  number,  and  the  ferns  are  no  less  noteworthy. 

Partridges  drum  undisturbed  in  their  leafy  homes,  the  rarer  quail  is 
still  a  resident,  and  the  meadows  and  mountain-sides  echo  to  the  songs 
of  numberless  wild  birds. 

Song-sparrows  and  bluebirds  greet  with  throbbing  music  the  early 
spring,  after  the  longest  and  coldest  winter  has  failed  to  drive  the  ener- 
getic bluejay  from  his  covert  in  pine  or  hemlock,  whence  comes  his 
"  brigadier  "  note,  with  all  its  harshness  full  of  cheer  and  hopefulness. 
The  rose-breasted  grosbeak,  the  pewees,  the  flaming  orioles,  the  bobo- 
link and  meadow-lark,  the  humming-bird  and  linnet,  the  cat-bird  with 
its  lovely  song,  the  various  swallows  with  their  startlingly  swift  flight,  the 
sweet-voiced  vireos  and  warblers,  —  all,  and  a  numerous  brotherhood 
beside,  fill  the  crevices  of  every  fragrant  spring  and  summer  day  with 
their  flashing  wings  and  tender  songs,  voicing  the  winds  and  the  woods 
and  the  waters  in  sweetest  melody.  The  rare  red-necked  grebe,  the 


22 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


snowy  heron,  and  the  night  heron  have  been  seen  in  the  region,  as  well 
as  the  yellow-rail,  the  blue  golden-winged  warbler,  and  the  yellow- 
breasted  chat. 

About  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  a  few  elms  were  set  out  here 
and  there.  Some  of  these  pioneers  still  survive ;  but  in  general,  atten- 
tion to  ornamental  trees  has  been  given  within  the  present  century. 
The  old-time  Lombardy  poplar,  with  its  stiffly  sentinel  aspect,  and  its 


Bryant's  Home  at  Cummington. 

shimmering,  silvery  leaves,  was  introduced  at  one  time,  but  its  repre- 
sentatives were  generally  cut  down  after  a  few  years,  and  few  now 
remain  to  give  their  stately  dignity  to  any  old  homestead.  The  dis- 
tinctive trees  of  this  grassy,  sunny  Connecticut  Valley  are  undoubtedly 
its  elms.  Their  graceful  branches  appear  in  nearly  all  of  the  paintings 
of  the  region,  and  wave  across  the  pages  of  the  valley  literature.  And 
it  has  been  prominent  in  literature  since  the  early  days,  from  Jonathan 
Edwards  in  his  Northampton  home,  to  the  gentler  if  less  profound 
philosophy  of  Bryant,  whose  "  Story  of  the  Fountain  "  might  well  have 
been  told  of  the  far-away  spring  of  our  noble  river. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  2$ 

Bryant's  home  in  Cummington  was  one  of  his  two  favorite  spots  for 
writing  his  poems.  His  journalistic  labors  in  New  York  were  ever  kept 
distinct  from  his  deeply  loved  country  life,  where  alone  he  would  express 
himself  in  verse.  The  names  of  George  Bancroft,  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
and  George  William  Curtis  belong  to  the  valley ;  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland, 
born  in  Belchertown,  wrote  of  the  region  in  "  Kathrina,"  and  "  The  Bay 
Path."  Charles  Dudley  Warner  remembers  it  in  some  of  his  daintiest 
sketches ;  and  here,  too,  linger  memories  of  Jenny  Lind,  whose  com- 
pelling voice  comes  floating  down  the  years  in  the  traditions  of  a  previous 
generation.  More  lately,  George  W.  Cable's  increasing  fame  adorns 

the  Connecticut ;  while  to  Amherst 
belongs  the  world-wide  reputation 


Birthplace  of  Charles  Dudley  Warner  at  Plainfield. 

of  "  H.  H.,"  and  the  posthumous  fame  of  Emily  Dickinson  and  her 
strange,  strong  poems. 

To  the  geologist,  ten  thousand  years  seem  but  a  step.  From  evidences 
about  Amherst  and  Northampton  he  assigns  this  length  of  time,  "  one  of 
the  shortest  estimates,"  as  the  probable  interval  since  the  glacial  period. 
In  that  age,  misty  and  remote  enough  to  the  layman,  the  ice,  covering 
all  this  region,  furrowed  deeply  into  the  sandstone,  particularly  north  of 
the  Holyoke  range,  largely  forming  its  bold  and  rugged  outline ;  it 
piled  together  other  masses  into  rough  hills,  leaving  in  its  path  bowlders 
and  clay  and  the  stony  soil  so  characteristic  of  New  England. 

When  this  mass  of  ice,  beginning  to  yield  to  the  oncoming  of  a  more 
genial  age,  melted  in  the  sun,  a  great  lake  was  formed,  whose  height 
was  three  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  and  two  hundred  feet  above  pres- 
ent low  water  in  the  Connecticut  River.  Its  shores  were  the  present 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


boundaries  of  the  valley.  The  surface  of  the  ground  over  which  we 
drive  in  the  mellow  August  weather,  listening  to  the  peaceful  farming 
sounds  on  every  hand,  was  the  actual  bottom  of  this  great  prehistoric 
lake,  in  whose  clays  an  abundant  glacial  flora  has  been  found. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  lake  speedily  shrunk  to  almost  the  present 
size  of  the  river.  This  "  Nile  of  New  England  "  has  gradually  deposited 
the  rich  alluvial  meadows,  its  chief  wealth  and  beauty. 

Swinging  through  past  centuries  in  other  curves   than  now,   it  has 

formed  seven  great  "  ox-bows,"  cut- 
ting off  subsequently  all  but  the 
famous  one,  so  distinctly  seen  from 


The  Ox-Bow  in  1840  and  1890,  from  Mount  Holyoke. 

the  summit  of  Mount  Holyoke.     Two 
of  the  others  are  found  to  have  dis- 
appeared only  since  the  settlement  of  the  valley.     Three  of  the  seven 
were  in  Hatfield,  and  four  in  Northampton. 

Ages  before  even  the  oncoming  of  the  ice  period,  earthquakes  and 
volcanic  explosions  carved  our  valley  into  a  semblance  of  its  present 
shape.  Filled  with  waters  from  the  sea,  a  narrow  inlet  or  fjord  to  a 
height  above  the  level  of  Mount  Holyoke,  it  endured  through  triassic 
times. 

Streams  sweeping  into  the  basin  deposited  sand  and  gravel  flats.  In 
these  mud  shores,  animals  long  extinct  and  unimaginable  made  a  huge 
procession  of  footprints  since  hardened  into  stone.  These  have  been 
discovered,  preserved,  and  described  by  the  late  President  Hitchcock  of 
Amherst  College.  Traces  of  reptiles,  insects,  fishes,  and  colossal  frogs 


THE   HAXDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  25 

are  here  found,  and  also  the  enormous  prints  of  birds  whose  size,  to 
correspond  with  their  tracks,  must  have  been  at  least  five  times  that  of 
the  ostrich.  These  bird-tracks  occur  in  thirty  places  through  the  Con- 
necticut Valley,  between  the  upper  strata.  Into  the  late  discussions  of 
whether  these  great  creatures  with  feet  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  long 
were  birds  or  not  rather  some  unknown,  three-toed  animal  we  cannot 
enter.  It  is  for  us  enough  to  know  that  the  stupendous  procession  has 
been  made  to  live  again  by  the  untiring  genius  of  an  enthusiast  to  whom 
we  owe  the  resurrection  of  a  long-vanished  past ;  and  bird  or  animal, 
"  strange  indeed,  is  this  menagerie  of  remote  sandstone  days." 

From  this  weird  occupancy  of  antediluvian  monsters  to  the  days  when 
the  Agawams  and  other  Indian  tribes  lived  their  nomadic  and  warlike 
lives  in  the  fair  vale,  is  a  long  step  for  a  tense  imagination. 

Here,  however,  they  were  found ;  for  how  many  years  they  had  been 
here,  or  whence  their  pioneers  may  have  come,  cannot  be  certainly 
proven.  But  in  1631  the  Connecticut  first  became  known  to  our  own 
forefathers.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  1633  four  men  from  Dorchester 
first  visited  its  banks.  Later,  William  Pynchon  and  his  little  band  of 
followers,  chiefly  planters  from  Roxbury,  came  by  the  famous  "  Bay 
Path  "  through  a  hundred  miles  of  forest  to  what  is  now  the  city  of 
Springfield. 

An  absorbing  piety  characterized  these  early  settlements,  as  it  had  the 
original  ones  on  the  coast ;  and  a  "  meeting-house  "  was  an  earliest  care. 
The  first  framed  house  was  erected  by  Mr.  Pynchon ;  and  deeds  for  the 
various  allotments  of  land,  the  first  ever  executed  in  Western  Massachu- 
setts, were  drawn  up  whereby  a  formal  purchase  was  secured  from  the 
Indians,  who  held  from  Nature  herself  a  dateless  and  unwritten  title. 

In  all  the  early  settlements  it  is  a  pleasant  reflection  that  these  legiti- 
mate purchases  were  always  made  with  the  wild  but  original  owners. 

Northampton  was  subsequently  settled,  its  rich  meadow  land  proving 
very  attractive.  In  1654  measures  were  taken  here  also  to  build  and 
establish  a  meeting-house.  What  means  of  calling  the  settlers  together 
for  worship  may  have  been  employed  is  not  certainly  known.  While  in 
Springfield  this  important  instrument  was  a  drum,  it  is  believed  that  a 
large  and  sonorous  cow-bell  was  first  used  in  Northampton.  Later,  a 
salary  is  recorded  as  being  paid  for  services  in  "  blowing  the  trumpet," 
presumably  for  the  same  purpose. 

In  1659  about  fifty  settlers  established  the  town  of  Hadley,  its  mag- 


26  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

nificent  street  twenty  rods  wide  still  bearing  evidence  to  the  good  taste 
and  forethought  of  those  who  planned  the  village.  The  name  of  Hadley 
was  not  given  until  two  years  later.  Here,  as  in  the  first  two  settle- 
ments, measures  were  not  only  promptly  taken  for  establishing  churches, 
but  schools  were  equally  early  in  the  thought  of  its  founders. 

That  this  appreciation  of  education  was  inherent  and  vital  is  shown 
by  the  noble  array  of  famous  educational  institutions  along  the  Con- 
necticut to-day.  Mount  Holyoke  College,  Smith  College,  Amherst  Col- 
lege, the  State  Agricultural  College,  the  schools  at  Northfield,  summer 
schools  in  every  direction,  and  a  host  of  lesser  institutions,  are  the  blos- 
soms of  that  early  aspiration  and  endeavor. 

So  far,  the  terms  of  agreement  with  the  Indians  had  been  carefully 
kept ;  any  complaints  from  them  had  received  immediate  attention  and 
adjustment,  and  everything  was  peaceable  and  friendly.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  pleasant  state  of  affairs,  military  companies  were  maintained 
against  any  possibility  of  danger,  as  well  as  fortified  houses  in  every 
town. 

In  1662  Hampshire  County  was  established,  chiefly  unsettled  terri- 
tory. It  was  then  much  larger  than  now,  for  the  entire  counties  of 
Worcester  and  Berkshire  have  since  been  taken  from  its  original  boun- 
daries. Deerfield  and  Hatfield  were  settled  in  1670,  and  Northfield  in 
1673.  In  these  early  days  Amherst  was  a  part  of  Hadley,  and  it  was 
not  laid  out  until  1 703. 

The  early  peacefulness  of  the  relations  between  Indians  and  settlers 
in  the  valley  seems  to  have  been  largely  due  to  the  just  and  considerate 
policy  of  William  Pynchon.  The  outbreak  of  "  King  Philip's  War,"  in 
1675,  Put  an  en(i  t°  this  quiet  comfort.  With  a  plan  which  appeared  to 
embrace  the  sweeping  away  of  every  settlement  from  the  north  down 
the  river,  Northfield  was  completely  burned  by  Indians,  Deerfield  had 
fallen  with  the  terrible  massacre  at  Bloody  Brook,  and  Hatfield,  Hadley, 
and  Northampton  came  next.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the  natives 
about  Springfield,  spurred  to  emulation  by  the  ghastly  deeds  in  the 
north,  had  gathered  there,  and  burned  nearly  everything  except  the 
fortified  houses  where  the  inhabitants  had  fled  for  safety. 

In  the  first  attack  on  Hatfield  the  skill  of  the  English  more  than 
matched  the  numbers  of  their  assailants. 

In  Northampton,  also,  they  were  repulsed,  but  only  after  severe  loss 
and  destruction. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  2g 

Old  Hadley  is  still  full  of  the  traditions  of  those  early  days.  On  the 
1 2th  of  June,  1676,  at  least  seven  hundred  Indians  attacked  Hadley. 
It  was  then  and  there  that  the  famous  stranger,  noble  in  dress  and 
manner,  dignified  and  venerable,  unable  longer  to  remain  an  idle  spec- 
tator of  so  terrible  events,  issued  forth  and  assumed  command  of  the 
English  forces,  directing  them  in  the  most  skilfully  military  manner. 
Encouraging  and  rallying,  now  at  one  point,  now  at  another,  his  is  per- 
haps the  most  picturesque  and  impressive  figure  in  all  our  early  history. 

By  his  aid  the  Indians  were  repulsed  with  slight  loss  to  the  English ; 
and,  this  accomplished,  the  mysterious  stranger  disappeared  as  silently 
and  suddenly  as  he  came.  With  the  superstition  of  the  times,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  he  was  devoutly  believed  to  be  an  angel  from  heaven, 
sent  to  save  the  colony  in  a  disastrous  crisis. 

It  was  afterward  ascertained  that  this  opportunely  guardian  angel  was 
no  other  than  Goffe,  the  regicide,  who  with  his  father-in-law,  Whalley, 
and  twenty-eight  other  judges,  had  been  condemned  in  England  for 
passing  sentence  of  death  upon  Charles  I.,  and  had  escaped  in  1660. 
Both  Goffe  and  Whalley  had  been  officers  of  high  rank  in  Cromwell's 
army.  Escaping  after  their  sentence,  they  had  found  refuge  in  1664  a* 
Hadley,  unknown  to  all  its  inhabitants  save  the  family  who  sheltered 
them. 

In  1678  a  peace  was  concluded,  and  King  Philip  finally  conquered. 

Beauty  in  dress  and  the  love  of  fine  clothes  did  not  perish  entirely, 
even  with  a  background  of  bloodshed  and  slaughter.  We  learn  that  in 
1651  a  law  was  passed  in  Massachusetts,  restraining  excess  in  dress.  In 
1673  twenty-five  wives  and  five  maids  were  tried  before  a  jury  for  being 
persons  of  small  estate,  yet  wearing  silk  against  the  law. 

A  year  later  the  wife  of  a  Hadley  man  was  again  presented  for  wearing 
silk.  She  was  found  guilty,  and  fined  ten  shillings. 

At  the  March  court  in  1676  sixty-eight  persons  were  presented  by  the 
jury,  among  them  thirty  young  men,  "  some  for  wearing  silk,  and  that  in 
a  flaunting  manner,  and  others  for  long  hair  and  other  extravagances." 

Witchcraft  seems  not  to  have  flourished  in  this  rich  and  verdant 
valley,  particularly  in  Hampshire  County,  to  the  extent  which  prevailed 
in  the  earlier  settlements  on  the  rocky  coast.  In  1645  tne  ^rst  cases 
of  witchcraft  in  New  England  occurred  at  Springfield.  During  King 
Philip's  War  it  lay  dormant,  naturally,  under  the  more  exciting  events 
about. 


30  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

But  at  the  close  of  the  war  it  revived ;  and  a  remarkable  instance 
occurred  at  Hadley,  when  a  Mr.  Philip  Smith  was  believed  to  be  beset 
by  the  spells  of  a  wretched  old  woman,  who  caused  all  sorts  of  myste- 
rious evils  to  assail  him,  finally  causing  his  death.  The  old  woman, 
however,  was  allowed  to  live  on ;  and  there  is  no  evidence  of  her  ever 
having  been  brought  to  trial.  About  the  time  that  Amherst  was  being 
laid  out  as  one  of  the  "  precincts  "  of  Hadley,  fresh  disasters  awaited 
the  valley  dwellers,  whose  whole  early  progress  seems  to  have  been  one 
long  record  of  struggles  with  every  sort  of  trial  and  discouragement. 

The  brave  settlement  at  Deerfield  again  became  the  scene  of  blood- 
shed and  cruelty,  when,  at  the  beginning  of  Queen  Anne's  War,  the 
French  and  Indians  descended  upon  it,  murdering  and  torturing  on 
every  hand.  The  famous  Deerfield  bell  was  taken  during  this  campaign, 
and  is  believed  to  be  still  hanging  in  a  little  mission  church  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  River. 

The  long-suffering  valley  dwellers  were  alternately  allowed  to  breathe 
freely  for  a  time,  and  then  made  to  suffer  all  the  distress  of  repeated 
wars  for  an  almost  endless  succession  of  years.  But  in  1760,  permanent 
peace  came  about,  upon  the  surrender  of  the  Canadian  province  to 
Great  Britain. 

For  nearly  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  wars  had  racked  Western 
Massachusetts  to  its  foundations. 

Hardly  an  acre  of  the  beautiful  green  Connecticut  Valley,  now  full  of 
peace  and  sunshine  and  homely  sound  of  toil,  but  has  known  the  pressure 
of  flying  feet,  hard-pressed  by  savage  pursuer,  —  but  has  echoed  to  the 
terrible  shouts  of  slayer  and  victim,  or  has  drunk  the  blood  of  friends 
and  foes. 

And  yet  even  these  events  faded  into  the  dim  past  before  the  on- 
coming excitements  of  the  Revolution. 

Few  events  of  particular  significance  at  this  crisis  occurred  in  the 
Connecticut  Valley  itself,  although  its  roll  of  minute-men  is  a  long  and 
honorable  one.  There  were,  however,  many  famous  representatives  of 
Toryism  in  the  region. 

The  only  event  of  local  interest  in  this  general  connection  was  the 
"  Shays'  Rebellion,"  practically  an  uprising  owing  to  a  petulant  feeling 
on  the  part  of  the  insurgents  that  they  had  not  been  getting  their  full 
dues  in  various  ways.  Headed  by  Daniel  Shays  of  Shutesbury,  they 
marched  against  Springfield  and  threatened  the  courts  and  the  arsenal. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  31 

There  was  little  bloodshed,  and  the  chief  indirect  effect  of  the  rebellion 
was  to  hasten  the  adoption  of  a  Federal  government. 

A  camping  ground  is  still  pointed  out  northeast  of  Amherst. 

From  the  close  of  this  rebellion  onward,  life  prospered  in  the  valley. 
Amherst,  and  its  neighboring  towns,  strongly  disapproved,  and  publicly 
expressed  its  disapproval,  of  the  War  of  1812,  being  then,  apparently,  as 
ever,  rather  upon  the  conservative  than  the  impetuous  side  of  life. 

The  primitive  means  of  crossing  the  Connecticut  River  were,  of  course, 
ferries,  for  it  does  not  appear  certain  that  at  any  points  between  New 
Hampshire  and  Connecticut  were  available  fords.  In  May,  1718,  nine 
pounds  were  raised  for  a  free  ferry  for  a  year.  The  navigation  of  the 
Connecticut  had  always  been  a  difficult  problem,  owing  to  the  falls  at 
South  Hadley  and  Montague.  It  was  not  until  after  the  close  of  the 
Revolution,  and  of  Shays'  Rebellion,  which  had  for  twelve  years  occu- 
pied the  minds  of  all  in  Western  Massachusetts,  that  an  enterprise  for 
facilitating  transportation  sprang  into  new  life.  This  was  the  building 
of  canals  around  these  falls.  In  1792  this  laudable  enterprise  was 
authorized  by  the  legislature,  and  the  names  of  those  forming  the 
corporation  are  still  preserved. 

For  many  years  the  bridging  of  the  Connecticut,  or  "  Great  River," 
was  considered  an  impossible  feat.  It  was  attempted  in  1792  at  Green- 
field. A  toll-bridge  was  established  at  Springfield  about  1805.  It  was 
over  twelve  hundred  feet  long,  and  built  with  six  imposing  arches.  Its 
opening  to  the  public  was  an  occasion  of  great  rejoicing,  processions, 
and  speeches. 

The  two  travellers,  whose  glance  backward  over  the  long  history  of 
the  fertile  region  they  were  passing  so  happily  through  had  filled  the 
whole  golden  afternoon,  were  now  approaching  the  primitive  and  pic- 
turesque ferry  at  North  Hadley.  They  hailed  the  sturdy  boatman,  who 
took  them  slowly  across  to  the  lovely  Hatfield  shore  by  hand.  An 
idyllic  little  trip. 

In  these  August  afternoons  the  sun  begins  to  lean  toward  the  horizon 
by  six  o'clock.  A  fresh  coolness,  even  after  the  hottest  days,  springs 
into  the  air,  and  the  two  in  the  carriage  passed  herds  of  cows,  soft- eyed 
and  gentle,  on  their  homeward  way  from  pasture. 

As  the  level  sun-rays  swept  across  the  meadows,  the  green  of  the  rich 
grass  was  turned  into  velvety  softness.  The  far,  faint  hills  in  the  west 
came  forth  in  a  deep  purple  evening  dress.  While  yet  it  seemed  to  be 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


A  Picturesque  Ferry. 

summer,  an  unsuspected  scarlet  leaf  of  sumac  glowed  suddenly  by  the 
roadside,  —  brilliant  forerunner  of  that  palpitating  glory  of  color  which 
holds  high  carnival  here  throughout  a  royal  autumn. 

In  this  calm  time  how  remotely  misty  seem  those  volcanic  days  when 
all  was  but  a  strife  of  upheaval,  —  how  impossible  the  stupendous  proces- 
sion of  prehistoric  mammoths  who  left  their  huge  footprints  in  the  mud 
of  that  perpetual  summer,  —  how  equally  far  away  the  numb  clasp  of  the 
glacial  silence,  —  how  more  than  strange  the  knowledge  that  the  bed  of 
a  great  lake  makes  now  the  fertile  farm,  the  shady  woodland,  the  radi- 
ant roadside  ! 

Nearer,  yet  still  remote,  the  war-cries  and  the  tragedies  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  sturdy  strength  and  inflexibility  of 
purpose  which  built  up  and  made  possible  the  beautiful  life  we  know 
to-day. 

As  the  cool  twilight  descends,  and  one  dwelling  after  another  is 
passed,  the  little  home  lights  flash  out  cheerily  into  the  still  evening. 

The  warm  yellow  glow  in  the  west  grows  less ;  one  bright  star,  senti- 
nel outpost  of  a  countless  host,  springs  into  life,  and  all  the  sweet  valley 
sleeps  under  the  sky. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  33 


A   FEW   DELIGHTFUL   DRIVES. 

VIEWS  FROM  HOLYOKE— CHARMING  HADLEY—THE  "MEADOW  CITY" 
—  BLOOD-STAINED  DEERFIELD— OTHER  ATTRACTIVE  PLACES. 

IN  all  New  England  there  are  few  regions  offering  more  delightful 
opportunities  for  riding  and  driving  than  the  portion  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Valley  in  which  the  town  of  Amherst  lies.  For  miles  around, 
easy  country  roads  wind  along  the  highlands  and  through  the  valleys, 
displaying  lavishly  all  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  which  indulgent  Nature 
is  capable.  It  is  like  a  vast  park,  through  which  one  may  wander  for 
months  without  exhausting  the  natural  attractions,  and  be  more  deeply 
impressed  each  day  by  the  wonderful  variety.  Not  a  few  are  the  visitors 
who  come  to  Amherst,  and  some  of  the  neighboring  towns,  expressly  to 
spend  an  outing  in  driving ;  and  none  depart  disappointed. 

With  Amherst  as  a  centre,  there  are  long  drives  of  a  day  or  more  to 
Pittsfield  and  Lenox,  fashionable  as  summer  and  fall  resorts ;  to  Worth- 
ington  and  Peru,  on  the  lower  Green  Mountains,  directly  westward  from 
Amherst,  and  twelve  hundred  and  sixteen  hundred  feet  above  sea-level ; 
between  Goshen  and  Ashfield  —  both  delightful  places  in  themselves  — 
is  a  charming  "  Little  Switzerland  "  ;  and,  further  to  the  west,  Williams- 
town  and  the  Berkshire  Hills  are  prominent ;  Brattleboro'  and  Burlington 
are  the  pleasant  objective  points  in  Vermont,  as  are  Monadnock  in 
New  Hampshire  and  Wachusett  in  Massachusetts.  Indeed,  the  list  is 
almost  limitless.  Of  the  shorter  and  more  important  drives  for  those  who 
visit  Amherst  to  become  acquainted  with  the  town  and  its  surroundings, 
a  few  of  the  best  have  been  selected  for  brief  mention  in  this  book. 

The  ride  to  Mount  Holyoke,  eight  miles,  takes  one  to  an  outlook 
not  surpassed  in  the  world.  The  road  runs  southeasterly  to  the  Middle 
Street  of  Hadley,  four  miles ;  then  south,  along  the  Connecticut  River, 
two  and  one-half  miles,  with  many  choice  views  ;  then  up  the  mountain- 
side through  the  veil  of  the  old  forest  to  the  half-way  house.  The  rest 
of  the  trip  to  the  summit  is  made  in  a  quaint  little  car  holding  four  per- 
sons, and  making  the  ascent  under  a  covered  way  by  means  of  a  station- 
ary engine  at  the  bottom.  Athletes  will  prefer  to  climb  the  522  steps 


34 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


which  follow  the  side  of  the  railway.    Since  the  opening  of  the  railroad  in 

1854,  there  has  never  been  an  accident.    The  summit  has  a  perpendicular 

elevation  of  954  feet,  and  from  it  may  be  seen  four  States  and  forty  towns, 

eight  of  which  are  ^^.^^^ 

in    Connecticut.  -""*"*'  ^"^x. 

The  panorama  of  ^ 

the  winding  river,  \ 

fertile'  valley,  and 

rugged  mountains, 


Mount  Holyoke. 


as  far  as  the  eye  can  see, 
well  nigh  defies  description. 
The  drive  home  may  be  varied 
by  crossing  the  Hockanum 
ferry  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  following  the  other 
side  of  the  river  to  Northamp- 
ton, and  thence  to  Amherst. 

"  Old  "  Hadley,  four  miles,  by  the  "  old  road,"  Amity  Street,  or  by 
Northampton  Street.  The  cemetery,  the  broad  streets  lined  with  elms, 
and  the  Elmwood  House,  are  the  objects  of  interest.  The  latter  is  on 
the  site  of  the  house  where,  two  hundred  years  ago,  Rev.  Mr.  Russell,  the 
first  minister  of  the  town,  hid  the  regicide  judges,  Goffe  and  Whalley, 
who  had  fled  from  England  at  the  fall  of  Cromwell.  From  this  hiding- 
place  Goffe  emerged  to  assume  command  of  the  settlers  and  drive  off 
the  attacking  Indians  in  a  memorable  battle. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


35 


The  "  Meadow  City,"  as  Northampton  is  known,  is  an  eight-mile 
drive  over  a  straight  road.  It  is  a  thriving  young  city  of  fifteen  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  many  busy  mills  of  almost  national  repute.  It  has  been 
the  home  of  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  Governor  Caleb 
Strong,  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  and  to-day  numbers  among  its  inhabitants 
the  noted  novelist  George  W.  Cable,  Judge  D.  VV.  Bond,  and  President 
L.  Clark  Seelye.  Northampton  has  many  charming  drives  within  its 
limits.  Round  Hill  affords  extensive  views  of  river  and  meadow,  and  is 


The  Russell   Church  and    ElmWood    House,   m   Hadley. 

of  interest  because  of  its  connection  with  the  historians  Bancroft  and 
Motley,  and  the  "sweet  singer,"  Jenny  Lind.  "Paradise"  is  a  delightful 
bit  of  nature  preserved  from  the  ruthless  real  estate  agent  by  kindly 
hands.  One  may  reach  it  for  a  walk  from  Paradise  road.  Among  the 
other  objects  of  interest  in  the  city  are  Smith  College  for  young  ladies, 
the  Clark  Institute  for  deaf  and  dumb,  and  the  many  manufactories. 
Wade,  Warner  &  Co.,  the  publishers  of  "  Picturesque  Hampshire,"  and 
projectors  of  similar  works  of  other  Western  Massachusetts  counties, 
have  a  large  printing  business  here,  and  publish  the  Hampshire  County 
Journal,  a  prominent  weekly. 


36  .THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HEX  ST. 

Florence,  three  miles  beyond  Smith  College,  is  the  terminus  of  the 
horse-car  line.  A  drive  through  it  to  Leeds,  one  and  a  half  miles,  and 
then  along  the  stream  to  Haydenville  and  Williamsburg,  brings  one  to 
the  scene  of  the  Mill  River  disaster  of  1874,  when  158  lives  were 
destroyed  in  less  than  an  hour.  These  towns  are  pleasant  manufacturing 
villages. 

Easthampton,  eleven  miles,  by  way  of  Northampton,  is  the  seat  of 
Williston  Academy,  a  well-known  preparatory  school  for  boys.  Return- 


A  Glimpse  of  Smith  College. 

ing  by  way  of  Mount  Tom  station  and  the  Hockanum  ferry  lengthens 
the  distance  to  fourteen  miles. 

Mount  Nonatuck,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  Mount 
Holyoke,  is  ten  miles  from  Amherst,  whether  one  crosses  the  Connecti- 
cut by  the  Hockanum  ferry,  or  goes  by  way  of  Northampton,  and  the 
meadow  road  to  the  south.  The  ascent  is  by  a  carriage  road,  to  the  top, 
852  feet  above  sea-level,  where  there  is  a  comfortable  house.  The  view 
from  the  summit  is  scarcely  less  beautiful  than  from  Mount  Holyoke. 

Plainville ;  two  miles ;  a  little  settlement  in  the  town  of  Hadley ; 
Amity  Street,  first  right  after  descending  the  hill.  From  Plainville 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


37 


thence  by  first  left,  around  the  base  of  Mount  Warner,  to  North  Hadley, 
and  return  by  the  northern  side  of  the  mountain,  is  a  pleasant  drive  of 
nine  miles. 

The  Huntington  Estate ;    three   and  a  half  miles ;   Amity  Street 
directly  west  to  the  Connecticut  River,  then  following  the  river  north- 
ward. The 
first    large 
house   at 
the  left  is 
the    sum- 
mer home 
of  Bishop 


The  Huntington   Estate. 

F.  D.  Huntington,  and  with  the  adjoining  estates  is  a  fine  example  of 
the  older  Connecticut  Valley  homesteads.  Following  the  river,  the  return 
may  be  made  by  North  Hadley. 

Hatfield  is  five  miles  by  way  of  North  Hadley,  and  across  the  river 
by  a  picturesque  ferry.  This  town  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  those  set- 
tled in  this  portion  of  the  valley,  and  its  history  is  filled  with  accounts 
of  Indian  wars.  It  is  laid  out  in  two  long  streets,  lined  from  end  to  end 
with  magnificent  elms  and  pleasant  estates.  The  return,  if  by  way  of 
Northampton,  southward,  is  eleven  miles ;  or  by  Sunderland,  northward, 
is  fourteen  miles,  either  way  of  great  variety  and  charm. 

Whately  and  Whately  Glen  ;  twelve  miles  ;  is  a  delightful  picnick- 
ing spot,  and  a  haunt  of  artists  and  lovers  of  nature.  North  Hadley,  the 
ferry  to  Hatfield,  and  northwesterly  roads  from  Hatfield  Centre.  The 
return  may  be  made  by  Sunderland,  a  mile  or  two  further. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 


Elm  Street  in  Hatfield. 

North  Amherst ;  two  miles  ;  North  Pleasant  Street.  Return  may  be 
made  by  taking  road  to  the  west,  to  North  Hadley,  thence  southeasterly 
to  Amherst,  the  whole  distance  being  from  nine  to  twelve  miles,  accord- 
ing to  variations ;  or  by  the  easterly  road  to  North  Amherst  "  city  "  ; 
whole  distance  five  miles.  North  Amherst  "  city "  is  two  miles  from 
Amherst  by  way  of  Mount  Pleasant  Street. 

Mount  Toby  is  eight  miles  due  north  through  North  Amherst  and  the 
Leverett  plain,  into  wildness  where  bowlders,  hugh  forest  trees,  clearest 
springs  and  brooks  surround  an  unequalled  bit  of  rural  loveliness,  at 
the  very  base  of  the  mountain.  A  climb  of  two  miles  by  an  easy  moun- 
tain road  brings  one  to  the  top.  From  the  wooden  tower,  now  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  could  once  be  seen  a  wild  sea  of  mountain  tops  and 
lands  in  more  than  eighty  towns. 

It  is  seven  miles  to  Shutesbury  by  way  of  Nor):h  Amherst  "  city,"  and 
following  along  the  side  of  the  roaring  waters  of  the  upper  Mill  River. 
The  road  is  picturesque,  and  at  times  shut  in  as  if  there  were  no  outside 
world ;  but  from  the  crest,  with  a  deep  chasm  farther  east,  one  can  look 
far  over  valley,  hill,  and  range,  and  see  Greylock  in  the  west,  Monad- 
nock  in  the  north,  and  Wachusett  in  the  east. 

Leverett,  six  miles,  through  North  Amherst  "  city,"  and  directly 
north,  affords  a  fine  series  of  views.  A  pleasant  way  is  by  way  of  North 
Amherst  and  Factory  Hollow. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  39 

Lock's  Ponds,  in  North  Leverett ;  twelve  miles ;  a  pleasant  place  to 
picnic. 

Montague,  ten  miles,  through  North  Amherst,  north  through  Leverett, 
passing  Mount  Toby,  is  a  wide  and  picturesque  drive. 

Sunderland,  seven  miles,  through  North  Amherst,  directly  north. 

To  reach  South  Deerfield  by  way  of  the  Sunderland  bridge,  one 
must,  go  through  North  Amherst  village  in  a  northwesterly  direction  for 
ten  miles,  passing  through  the  villages  of  North  Amherst  and  Sunder- 
land. Sugar  Loaf  Mountain,  around  whose  base  the  road  winds,  after 
crossing  the  bridge,  is  well  worth  ascending.  The  town  of  Old  Deer- 
field,  five  miles  farther,  is  of  great  historical  interest,  and  in  it  are  many 
memorials  of  the  fierce  French  and  Indian  wars  that  more  than  once 
devastated  it.  The  return  drive  may  be  made  through  the  North  Hatfield 
meadows,  directly  south,  and  across  the  river  by  the  Hatfield  ferry,  and 
thence  to  Amherst. 

In  Pelham  the  fishing-rod  factory  of  the  Montague  City  Rod  Com- 
pany is  an  interesting  place  to  visit.  It  is  about  two  miles  directly  east 
from  Main  Street.  This  industry  was  founded  in  the  year  1860  by 
H.  Gray  &  Son,  and  was  the  first  factory  known  in  which  fishing-rods 
were  made  by  machinery.  The  founders  carried  on  a  constantly  increas- 
ing business  for  fourteen  years,  and  in  1874  sold  out  to  J.  G.  Ward  &  Co. 


Looking  toward  North  Amherst. 

This  firm  continued  until  1880,  when  the  business  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Bartlett  Brothers.  The  senior  member  of  this  firm,  L.  L.  Bartlett, 
withdrew  in  1883,  and  E.  P.  Bartlett,  sole  proprietor  during  the  next  six 
years,  greatly  enlarged  the  plant,  and  trebled  the  amount  of  business. 


4o 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


In  1889  the  business  combined  with  the  Montague  City  Rod  Company. 
This  company  now  employs  at  this  factory  a  full  force  of  fifty  hands, 
and  has  a  constantly  increasing  business.  Their  annual  output  is  about 
six  thousand  fishing-rods  of  all  grades,  ranging  from  the  boys'  cheap  rod 
to  the  finest  German  silver  mounted  split  bamboo  rods.  The  catalogue 
contains  descriptions  of  the  two  hundred  different  styles  of  fishing-rods 
manufactured.  The  stock  used  is  the  native  ash,  maple,  and  birch ;  also 
lancewood  and  greenheart  wood  imported  from  the  West  Indies,  and  bam- 
boo poles  from  Calcutta.  Mr.  E.  P.  Bartlett,  who  is  now  in  charge  at  this 


The  Fishing-Rod   Factory. 

factory,  has  been  connected  with  the  business  ever  since  it  started,  and 
as  either  part  or  sole  owner  during  the  last  seventeen  years.  It  is  owing 
in  a  large  measure  to  his  energy  and  business  capacity  that  the  business 
has  grown  and  developed  to  its  present  large  volume.  His  enterprise 
has  aided  very  materially  in  the  growth  of  the  manufacturing  interest  of 
Amherst.  The  Montague  City  Rod  Company  has  another  large  factory 
for  fishing-rods  at  Montague  City.  The  officers  of  the  company  are : 
President,  L.  L.  Bartlett  of  Montague  City;  treasurer,  C.  W.  Hazelton 
of  Turner's  Falls.  E.  P.  Bartlett  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  company, 
and  superintendent  of  the  factory  at  Pelham.  Amherst  is  the  post-office 
address  of  this  branch  of  the  firm. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  41 

West  Pelham  church ;  four  miles ;  and  thence  southward,  behind 
the  first  mountain  range  following  a  mad  brook  down  to  Pansy  Park,  is  a 
pleasant  drive.  The  way  is  about  fifteen  miles  if  the  return  to  Amherst 
is  by  going  southeasterly  to  the  Bay  road,  and  thence  through  South 
Amherst. 

The  tower  on  Mount  Lincoln  is  six  miles  due  east  to  the  West 
Pelham  meeting-house,  and  thence  south,  clinging  to  the  left-hand  roads 


The  Tower  on   Mount  Lincoln. 

with  guide-boards.  The  roads  follow  a  deep  chasm  at  the  left,  a  private 
graveyard  at  the  right,  the  mountain  woods,  and  along  the  mountain  top 
to  the  summit.  The  tower  is  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
the  surrounding  valleys,  and  no  other  point  gives  a  clearer  idea  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley  as  a  whole.  As  the  position  is  higher  than  Mounts 
Holyoke  and  Tom  and  the  Sugar  Loaves,  one  may  look  directly  across 
them  to  the  distant  and  loftier  continuations  of  the  Green  Mountains. 

Pratt's  Corner ;  four  to  six  miles,  according  to  the  variations ;  East 
Street,  turning  north,  and  taking  the  first  road  to  the  northeast.  This 
way  is  along  the  valley  of  the  Pelham  hills,  and  full  of  most  charming 
scenery. 


42  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

Pansy  Park,  the  flower  farm  and  seed  establishment  of  L.  W.  Goodell, 
is  situated  about  four  miles  from  Amherst,  upon  the  main  road  to  Belcher- 
town,  and  about  a  mile  this  side  of  the  railroad  station,  which  takes 
its  name  from  this  place.  Here  in  the  summer  time  may  be  seen 
more  than  two  thousand  varieties  of  flowering  plants,  including  pansies, 
asters,  pinks,  petunias,  and  many  others,  being  grown  by  the  acre  for 
the  seed.  Especially  during  the  months  of  August  and  September,  all 
these  make  a  gorgeous  display  of  floral  beauty,  which  attracts  thousands 
of  visitors  annually  from  far  and  near.  One  of  the  most  attractive 
features  of  the  place  is  the  aquatic  garden  and  artificial  pond,  con- 


A    Flower  Field  at  Pansy  Park. 

taining  one  of  the  largest  collections  of  water-plants  grown  in  the  open 
air  in  America.  Among  other  rarities  in  this  collection  are  several 
varieties  of  the  Japanese  and  sacred  Egyptian  lotus,  and  about  twenty 
varieties  of  water-lilies  from  various  parts  of  the  world,  including  the 
magnificent  blue  and  red  lilies  from  Zanzibar.  The  cultivation  of  the 
latter  has  until  recently  been  confined  to  the  city  parks  and  the  grounds 
of  the  wealthy,  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  the  plants ;  but 
Mr.  Goodell  has  shown  that  they  can  be  as  easily  grown  from  the 
seed  as  the  common  annuals,  and  made  to  flower  in  tubs,  and  in  this 
way  they  are  now  being  grown  from  seed  he  has  distributed  all  over 
the  country.  The  very  rare  Victoria  Regia,  from  the  river  Amazon, 
the  largest  water-lily  in  the  world,  with  leaves  from  four  to  six  feet 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  43 

across,  was  flowered  at  Pansy  Park  in  the  summer  of  1890  without 
artificial  heat,  the  first  time  this  has  ever  been  accomplished  in  an  open 
pond.  The  taste  for  the  cultivation  of  aquatic  plants  increased  so 
rapidly  that  the  following  season  Mr.  Goodell  constructed  ponds  to 
cover  several  acres,  and  is  cultivating  this  class  of  plants  on  a  larger 
scale  than  has  ever  before  been  attempted.  In  addition  to  the  seeds 


The  First  Victoria  Regia  grown  without  Artificial  Heat. 

grown  upon  the  farm,  large  quantities  are  imported  from  the  growers 
of  England,  Germany,  and  France,  and  some  varieties  that  require  a 
long  season  to  mature  are  grown  on  contract  in  the  Southern  States. 
A  catalogue  and  price  list  is  published  annually  in  January  by  Mr. 
Goodell,  and  thousands  of  them  sent  out.  The  seeds  are  put  up  in 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  packets,  and  go  by  mail  or  express  to 
customers  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  in  fact  all  over  the  globe, 
as  orders  are  received  from  Europe,  the  East  and  the  West  Indies, 
Japan,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  other  foreign  lands.  Mr.  GoodelPs 
success  in  a  business  started  under  discouraging  circumstances,  and 


44  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

in  competition  with  old  established  firms,  is   remarkable.     He  began 
during  the   Centennial  year,  with  a  capital  of  only  $25,   on  a  poor, 
run-down  farm,  which  was  mortgaged  and  otherwise  deeply  in  debt. 
The  old  homestead,  which  has  been  in  the  Goodell  family  for  over  a 
century,  was  a  few  years  ago  one  of  the  most  neglected  and  unsightly 
in  town,  and  would  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events  have  become  one 
of  the  much-talked-of  "  abandoned  farms."     It  is  now  a  most  attractive 
place,  and  well  worth  a  long  journey  to  visit.     The  year  Mr.  Goodell 
began  business,  he  had  less  than  two  hundred  customers,  while  now  there 
are  over  fifty  thousand.     From  two  hundred  to  five  hundred  orders  are 
received  daily  during  the  selling  season  in  the  winter  and  spring  months. 
Six  years  ago,  land  more  suitable  for  the  cultivation  of  the  flowers  being 
needed,  Mr.  Goodell  bought  the  two  estates  adjoining  his  own,  where  most 
of  the  growing  has  been  done.    Pansies  being  one  of  the  leading  special- 
ties, the  distinctive  name  of  "  Pansy  Park  "  was  then  given  to  the  place. 
Belchertown  ;   ten   miles  ;   a   pleasant  village   on   the   hills   at  the 
southeast.     The  road  is  direct  after  passing  through  the  East  Amherst 
T        _______  ,  ........  _______  ___________  _________  _____  .........      village  and  by  the 

Agricultural  Fair 
grounds.  Good 
hotel  accommoda- 
tions, with  several 
summer  residences 
and  a  handsome 
library  building, 
add  to  the  natural 
attractiveness  of 
the  place.  A  half 

a  mile  Ond  the 


The  Pond   in   Belchertown. 

Pansy  Park  Station 

of  the  Massachusetts  Central  Railroad,  the  road  passes  the  site  of  the 
birthplace  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  the  well-remembered  author.  In  the 
grove,  at  the  right,  just  before  crossing  the  railroad  at  Pansy  Park  Station, 
there  was  formerly  a  school-house  in  which  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  when 
a  student  at  Amherst  College,  preached  his  first  sermon.  Beautiful 
roads  and  picnic  grounds  about  the  ponds  abound  between  Amherst 
and  Belchertown.  The  drive  from  Belchertown  to  Enfield  offers  land 
views  of  more  than  ordinary  loveliness. 


Page  45. 


A    VIEW    OF    BELCHERTOWN    COMMON. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


47 


South  Amherst;  four  miles;  South  Pleasant  Street,  following  the 
left-hand  road  after  ascending  the  hill  beyond  Mill  River. 

The  Old  Bay  Road  ;  four  miles  ;  the  right-hand  road  after  ascending 
the  hill  beyond  Mill  River,  once  the  southern  boundary  of  the  town. 
It  runs  along  the  foot  of  the  Holyoke  range,  was  first  a  bridle-path,  and 
later  a  part  of  the  stage  route  between  Northampton,  Hadley,  Brookfield, 
and  Boston.  The  "Bay  Path"  has  been  made  memorable  by  Dr. 
Holland.  The  road  commands  an  immense  variety  of  landscape. 


Mount  Holyoke  College,  South  Hadley. 

The  Notch ;  five  miles ;  to  the  Bay  road,  thence  over  the  Holyoke 
Mountain  range.  This  cut  was  the  first  outlet  of  the  great  lake  which 
once  spread  over  this  portion  of  the  Connecticut  Valley. 

South  Hadley  and  Granby,  each  eight  miles,  are  beyond  the  Notch. 
The  former  place  is  the  seat  of  the  Mount  Holyoke  College  for  young 
ladies,  a  well-known  educational  institution.  Returning  home  by  the 
road  around  the  base  of  Mount  Holyoke  will  give  variety,  and  add  only 
three  miles  to  the  distance.  By  crossing  Smith's  Ferry  in  South  Hadley, 
the  only  ferry  on  the  river  which  is  operated  by  the  force  of  the  current, 
and  following  the  river  to  Northampton,  the  drive  will  be  lengthened  by 
five  miles.  Granby  is  a  small  town,  in  early  times  a  portion  of  Hadley. 


48  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


AMHERST   OF  THE   PRESENT. 

ITS  SITUATION— MATERIAL  CONDITION— GLIMPSES  ALONG  THE 
STREETS  OF  THE  VILLAGE  —  NORTH  AMHERST—  THE  "  CITY" — 
EAST  STREET— SOUTH  AMHERST. 

THE  town  of  Amherst  occupies  a  position  a  little  east  of  the  centre 
of  Hampshire  County,  which  was  established  by  act  of  the  General 
Court,  May  7,  1662.  The  original  county  included  the  present 
Berkshire  County,  set  off  in  1761  ;  Franklin  County,  set  off  in  1811  ; 
and  Hampden  County,  set  off  in  1812.  There  is  but  one  city  in  Hamp- 
shire County,  Northampton,  and  of  the  twenty- two  towns,  Amherst  is 
the  second  in  point  of  population.  The  total  population  of  the  county, 
according  to  the  national  census  of  1890,  was  51,859. 

Adjoining  Amherst  are  :  Sunderland  and  Leverett,  in  Franklin  County, 
on  the  north;  Shutesbury,  in  Franklin  County,  Pelham,  and  Belcher- 
town,  on  the  east ;  Granby,  on  the  south ;  and  Hadley,  on  the  west. 
On  two  sides,  nature  has  provided  the  town  sharp  boundary  lines  in  the 
ranges  of  the  Pelham  hills  and  Holyoke  mountains. 

Between  these  and  the  highlands,  where  the  main  village  lies,  inter- 
vene broad  valleys,  which  stretch  away  westward,  to  the  banks  of  the 
peaceful  river.  Several  minor  streams  traverse  the  town  in  their  jour- 
ney to  the  Connecticut,  here  and  there  broadening  into  graceful  ponds, 
which  never  fail  to  attract  the  migrating  water-fowl  in  spring  and  fall, 
affording  many  a  good  shot  to  the  chance  sportsman.  The  woods 
and  the  brooks  as  well  furnish  in  their  seasons  similar  amusement, 
although  the  latter  are  fast  becoming  desolated.  The  whirr  of  the 
partridge,  the  chatter  of  the  squirrel,  and  the  bobbing  white  tail  of 
the  rabbit,  frequently  startle  the  wandering  scholar  who  loves  to  give 
himself  to  solitude  and  communion  with  nature.  Sometimes  a  very 
shrewd  hunter  is  permitted  to  hear  and  see  these  things,  if  he  is  careful 
to  be  unarmed. 

The  area  of  Amherst  is  about  twenty-eight  and  three-quarters  square 
miles,  and  its  villages  are  Amherst,  North  Amherst,  North  Amherst 
"  city,"  East  Amherst,  or  East  Street,  and  South  Amherst 


Page  49. 


1.  Amity  Street. 

2.  Lincoln  Avenue. 

3.  Prospect  Street. 


REFERENCES. 

4.  North  Pleasant  Street. 

5.  Main  Street. 

6.  Spring  Street. 


7.  College  Street. 

8.  South  Pleasant  Street. 

9.  Northampton  Street. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  5  I 

The  distances  from  the  centre  to  the  surrounding  villages  are : 
North  Amherst  and  the  "city,"  two  miles;  East  Amherst,  one  mile; 
South  Amherst,  four  miles.  North  Amherst  "  city  "  is  a  mile  eastward 
from  North  Amherst. 

The  roads  and  streets  that  connect  these  villages  with  each  other  and 
with  the  neighboring  towns  are,  in  the  main,  the  smoothest  and  most 
comfortable  of  country  thoroughfares.  Within  the  limits  of  constant 
and  heavy  travel  they  are  laid  and  kept  in  repair  with  a  thoroughness 
seldom  seen  in  towns  of  equal  size.  Their  entire  length  is  about  seventy- 
five  miles. 

The  New  London  Northern  Railroad  has  stations  at  South  Amherst, 
Amherst,  and  North  Amherst  "  city."  The  distance  from  New  London, 
Conn.,  where  the  road  connects  with  the  New  York,  Providence,  and 
Boston  and  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  Railroads,  and 
with  the  steamer  for  New  York,  to  Amherst  is  85  miles  ;  from  Williman- 
tic,  connecting  with  the  New  York  and  New  England  road,  56  miles; 
from  Palmer,  connecting  with  the  Boston  and  Albany,  20  miles ;  from 
Belchertown,  connecting  with  the  Massachusetts  Central,  10  miles; 
from  Brattleboro,  connecting  with  the  Connecticut  River,  and  the 
Central  Vermont,  36  miles;  and  from  Miller's  Falls,  connecting  with 
the  Fitchburg,  15  miles. 

The  Massachusetts  Central  Railroad  was  extended  through  Amherst 
in  1888,  and  has  stations  at  South  Amherst  and  Amherst.  Boston  is  96 
miles  distant ;  Oakdale,  where  connections  are  made  with  the  Worcester 
and  Nashua  Railroad,  55  miles ;  Belchertown,  connecting  with  the  New 
London  Northern,  9  miles ;  and  Northampton,  connecting  with  the 
Connecticut  River  and  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  roads, 
8  miles. 

In  politics,  Amherst  is  usually  found  within  the  Republican  fold.  Its 
local  elections  are  not  carried  on  strongly  marked  political  lines,  but 
they  are  frequently  more  exciting  than  the  State  or  national  contests. 
There  are  about  one  thousand  voters. 

A  few  statistics  will  give  the  practical  reader  an  idea  of  the  material 
conditions  of  the  town.  The  tax  rate  for  the  year  1890  was  $15.75  on 
every  $1000,  and  during  the  four  years  previous  averaged  $15.50.  In 
comparing  this  rate  with  that  of  other  towns,  the  discount  of  ten  per 
cent  allowed  in  return  for  early  payments  must  be  taken  into  consid- 
eration. 


52  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

Law  and  order  have  an  almost  undisputed  sway  over  Amherst,  and 
the  guardians  of  the  peace  are  limited  to  a  dozen  constables  and  one 
night  patrolman.  The  grounds  of  the  two  colleges  are  protected  by 
specially  appointed  watchmen.  The  town  lock-up  is  with  rare  excep- 
tions desolate  of  inmates.  It  frequently  shelters  a  weary  tramp  from 
the  cold,  but  offenders  against  the  law,  scarcely  at  the  rate  of  a  half- 
dozen  a  year. 

The  fire  department  consists  of  two  hose  companies  and  a  hook  and 
ladder  company,  all  under  the  charge  of  a  board  of  twelve  engineers 
appointed  by  the  selectmen.  In  1891  thirty-eight  men  comprised  the 
working  force  of  firemen.  Hydrants  are  located  at  convenient  intervals 
in  the  thickly  settled  portions  of  the  town,  and  the  force  of  the  water 
supply  is  such  that  the  hand-engine  is  seldom  called  into  service.  In 
the  past  four  years,  since  1887,  the  average  number  of  fires  has  been 
five. 

The  main  village  of  Amherst  is  lighted  by  gas  and  electricity. 

A  water  system  was  introduced  by  a  private  company  in  1881,  supply- 
ing all  the  main  portions  of  the  town.  The  source  of  the  supply  is 
Amethyst  Brook,  four  miles  distant,  in  Pelham,  and  chemical  examina- 
tion has  shown  the  water  to  be  of  excellent  purity. 

Shortly  after  the  introduction  of  water,  a  sewerage  system  was  planned 
by  the  several  influential  citizens,  and  put  in  at  the  expense  of  benefit- 
ing abutters.  It  now  consists  of  three  divisions  emptying  into  running 
brooks  in  different  parts  of  the  village,  and  the  service  is  sufficient  for 
the  accommodation  of  all  living  in  this  portion  of  the  town. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  village  of  Amherst  is  the 
Common,  a  long  stretch  of  greensward  reaching  from  the  Amherst  Col- 
lege buildings  to  the  business  blocks.  Previous  to  1880  it  was  an 
unsightly  swamp,  and  was  changed  to  its  present  good  condition  through 
the  efforts  of  William  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.  The  expenses  were  defrayed 
by  private  subscription,  and  at  present  it  is  largely  cared  for  by  the 
local  improvement  society. 

The  national  census  of  1890  placed  the  population  of  Amherst  at 
4512,  —  an  increase  of  214  in  ten  years.  As  augmenting  the  social  and 
business  life  of  the  town,  the  500  students  attending  the  two  colleges 
may  well  be  added  to  this  number.  The  actual  growth  of  the  town  may 
be  readily  seen  from  these  census  figures:  In  1776  there  were  915 
inhabitants;  1790,  1233;  1800,  1358;  1810,  1469;  1820,  1917;  1830, 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  55 

2631;  1840,  2550;  1850,  3057;  i860,  3206;  1870,  4035;  1880, 
4298. 

The  elevated  situation,  the  pure  air  from  the  hills,  the  excellent  water 
supply,  and  the  freedom  of  a  country  life,  combined  with  the  material 
comforts  of  modern  homes,  make  Amherst  one  of  the  healthiest  and  most 
cheerful  of  the  towns  of  Western  Massachusetts.  The  deaths  average 
about  sixty-five  in  a  year,  and  the  proportion  of  sickness  is  small. 

Amherst  exults  in  still  retaining  that  ancient  emblem  of  pure  democ- 
racy, the  town-meeting,  and  many  are  the  patriotic  words,  sage  counsels, 
and,  it  must  be  confessed,  now  and  then,  bits  of  oratorical  filling,  that 
have  echoed  in  the  ears  of  the  oldest  inhabitants  at  these  assemblages 
of  the  people.  The  college  boys  have  always  been  zealous  in  their 
attendance  upon  town-meetings,  and  there  is  more  than  one  legend 
among  them  of  the  absurdities  that  were  gravely  legislated  upon  in  the 
mythical  times  when  students  are  said  to  have  been  allowed  to  cast  their 
votes  on  important  town  matters.  If  such  times  ever  did  exist,  no  one 
can  clearly  remember  them,  although  of  course  this  casts  no  doubt  upon 
the  truth  of  these  circulating  stories.  The  annual  meeting,  when  officers 
are  elected  and  appropriations  made,  occurs  on  the  first  Monday  in 
March. 

The  yearly  expenditures  of  the  town  reach  about  $42,000.  In  1890 
they  were  $i  10,947,  which  included  the  cost  of  the  new  town  hall.  The 
public  debt  in  that  year  was  $142,000.  The  total  valuation  of  taxable 
property  was  $3,290,128.  About  $2,000,000  is  untaxable.  The  taxable 
personal  property  amounted  to  $931,314,  and  real  estate  $2,358,814. 

The  educational  interests  of  Amherst  are  well  provided  for  in  the 
annual  appropriations.  The  schools  in  1891  were  eleven  in  number, 
with  twenty-one  regular  teachers.  The  expenditures  for  schools  in  the 
year  1890-91  were  $11,499,  or  $X4  f°r  everv  pupil.  The  school  build- 
ings and  land  are  valued  at  about  $60,000.  Amherst  schools  rank  well 
among  those  of  the  State.  One  of  the  three  committeemen  is  usually 
the  superintendent. 

The  village  of  Amherst  is  the  business  centre  of  the  town.  Three 
short  brick  blocks,  wherein  are  located  the  majority  of  the  stores  of  the 
town,  radiate  from  the  Amherst  House,  a  hostelry  bearing  an  enviable 
reputation  throughout  the  State.  For  many  years  this  site  has  been 
occupied  by  the  hotel  of  the  town.  The  original  building  was  burned, 
with  the  rest  of  the  blocks  in  Merchants'  Row,  in  1879.  The  present 


56  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

house  was  built  directly  after  the  fire,  and  is  owned  by  the  Conkey 
heirs.  Ordinarily,  one  hundred  guests  may  be  accommodated,  and  at 
such  occasions  as  the  commencement  of  the  colleges,  special  arrange- 
ments nearly  double  this  capacity.  Lorenzo  Chase  has  been  the  pro- 
prietor since  1890.  Connected  with  the  hotel,  T.  L.  Paige  has  a  finely 
equipped  livery  stable. 

About  this  end  of  the  village  Common  are  clustered  the  post-office, 
town  hall,  banks,  newspaper  office,  and  stores.  At  the  further  end  rises 
College  Hill,  with  its  group  of  college  buildings. 

The  village  post-office  and  the  Amherst  Savings  Bank  are  located  in 
the  block  next  the  hotel.  The  employees  of  the  post-office  handle 
about  1,000,000  letters  and  580,000  papers  in  a  single  year,  and  the 
cash  receipts  are  never  far  from  $10,000  a  year. 

The  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  April  15,  1864,  and  began  busi- 
ness the  2d  of  January  following.  The  amount  of  deposits,  January  i, 
1891,  was  $1,359,419.  E.  F.  Cook  was  then  president. 

The  comfortable  quarters  of  the  Amherst  Club  are  in  the  next  block, 
which  belongs  to  B.  H.  Williams.  This  club  was  organized  in  1891  by 
the  young  business  men  of  the  town,  and  it  has  handsomely  appointed 
reception,  reading,  and  billiard  rooms.  Herbert  T.  Cowles  was  the  first 
president. 

The  Amherst  National  Bank,  in  Hunt's  Block,  was  organized  in  Janu- 
ary, 1864,  largely  through  the  influence  of  the  late  Leonard  M.  Hills, 
who  became  its  first  president.  At  Mr.  Hills'  death,  L.  D.  Hills  suc- 
ceeded to  the  office,  which  he  has  since  held.  The  capital  of  the  bank 
is  $150,000. 

The  Baptist  church  stood  for  many  years  next  to  Hunt's  Block.  The 
society  was  organized  as  a  branch  of  the  New  Salem  and  Prescott 
church,  November  8,  1827,  later  becoming  a  branch  of  the  church  at 
Northampton,  and  recognized  as  an  independent  organization  on  August 
3,  1832.  This  building  was  erected  in  1855.  The  pastor  in  1891  was 
Rev.  J.  B.  Child. 

Across  the  Common,  on  the  corner  of  Spring  Street,  is  the  Grace 
Episcopal  church,  a  handsome  gray-stone  structure,  with  a  curious 
finger-like  spire  at  one  corner  of  the  tower.  The  Right  Reverend  F.  D. 
Huntington,  Bishop  of  Central  New  York,  organized  the  society,  with 
thirty-seven  members,  September  12,  1864.  Rev.  S.  P.  Parker,  D.D., 
was  installed  as  the  first  pastor,  January  n,  1865,  and  until  March  of 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  59 

the  year  following,  services  were  held  in  the  hall  of  the  old  Amherst 
Academy  building,  then  standing  on  the  present  site  of  the  Amity  Street 
Grammar  School.  The  church  building  was  consecrated  July  17,  1866  : 
it  cost  $40,000,  and  has  a  seating  capacity  of  five  hundred.  At  present 
there  is  a  generous  active  membership,  and  since  1888  the  Rev.  William 
J.  Tilley  has  been  the  rector. 

The  town  hall  is  a  picturesque  building  of  brick,  red  sandstone,  and 
granite.  It  was  erected  by  the  town  in  1889  at  a  cost  of  $58,000,  H.  S. 
McKay  of  Boston  being  the  designer.  In  addition  to  a  handsome  hall, 
seating  eight  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  there  are  rooms  for  the  town 
officers,  the  district  court,  the  town  library,  and  several  business  men. 

In  the  rear  of  this  hall,  Company  K,  2d  Regiment,  M.  V.  M.,  has  a 
large  armory,  built  by  the  town  in  1890  and  rented  to  the  State.  The 
company  was  organized  November  19,  1887,  and  in  1891  had  full  ranks 
with  E.  G.  Thayer,  captain ;  W.  A.  Thayer,  ist  lieutenant ;  F.  A.  Bard- 
well,  2d  lieutenant.  W.  G.  Towne  was  the  first  captain. 

In  the  rear  of  the  American  House  Block,  opposite,  is  the  office  of 
the  Amherst  Record,  a  thriving  weekly,  boasting  its  forty-eighth  volume. 
It  first  appeared  in  1844  under  the  name  of  the  Hampshire  and  Frank- 
lin Express,  Samuel  C.  Nash  being  editor.  In  1865  it  became  the  Hamp- 
shire Express,  and  three  years  later,  the  Amherst  Record.  The  Record 
is  published  every  Wednesday  afternoon,  and  its  editors,  Carpenter  & 
Morehouse,  are  the  proprietors  of  a  large  job  and  book  printing  business. 

Kellogg's  Block,  at  this  end  of  the  Phoenix  Row,  stands  upon  the  site 
of  the  home  of  Noah  Webster,  who  resided  in  Amherst  from  1812  to 
1822.  The  house  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1838. 

Masonic  Hall,  in  Cook's  Block,  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Pacific 
Lodge  of  Masons,  the  E.  M.  Stanton  Post  147,  of  the  Grand  Army,  and 
the  Women's  Relief  Corps. 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  village,  that  the  chief  streets  radiate  in  every 
direction  from  the  Common.  The  most  satisfactory  results,  therefore, 
of  an  attempt  to  see  whatever  there  is  of  interest,  will  be  obtained  by 
taking  the  Common  as  a  starting-place  for  a  walk  through  each  one. 
They  are  not  in  any  case  thickly  populated  for  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  the  Common,  and  a  ramble  about  them,  while  not  occupy- 
ing a  long  time,  will  well  repay  an  admirer  of  country  scenery,  in  the 
sight  of  the  many  comfortable  homes,  —  for  Amherst  is  truly  a  village 
of  homes,  —  and  now  and  then  the  distant  landscapes  of  rare  beauty. 


60  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

From  the  side  of  the  Amherst  House,  Amity  Street,  the  "  old  road  " 
to  Hadley,  extends  directly  westward  to  the  town  boundary,  Plain- 
ville,  and  the  Connecticut  River.  It  is  the  modern  survivor  of  one 
of  the  original  roads  of  the  town,  laid  out  with  a  width  of  forty  rods  in 
1703. 

The  building  opposite  is  a  veritable  landmark.  When  it  was  but  one 
story  high,  it  contained  the  town's  first  post-office,  which  was  removed 
from  East  Amherst  about  1820.  The  first  postmaster  sold  out,  after 
being  a  few  years  in  this  place,  to  one  Jared  White,  who  paid  $100 
for  the  business,  and  continued  it  in  the  same  location.  The  building 
is  now  owned  by  Frank  P.  Wood,  who  opened  it  as  Wood's  Hotel  in 
1882.  It  is  best  known  to  the  college  boys  as  "Frank's,"  and  the 
warm-hearted  proprietor  has  had  a  permanent  position  in  the  usually 
fickle  affections  of  the  boys,  ever  since  he  first  demonstrated  to  them 
his  skill  as  a  cook  and  his  kindness  as  a  friend.  More  than  one  class 
and  club  has  celebrated  their  friendship  for  the  man  and  the  place  in 
their  publications,  and  many  a  delectable  game  bird,  rare-bit,  or  lobster 
have  they  enjoyed  during  the  days  when  the  restaurant  was  open. 
"  Frank"  entered  private  life  in  1889,  but  as  a  caterer  he  is  still  in  great 
demand.  His  rooms  are  rented  to  college  students. 

The  Grammar  School  building  opposite  stands  upon  the  site  of 
Amherst  Academy,  in  its  day  the  most  prominent  educational  institu- 
tion in  this  part  of  the  State,  and  very  influential  in  the  founding  of 
Amherst  College.  Opened  in  December,  1814,  the  incorporators,  when 
the  charter  was  granted  two  years  later,  included  all  the  leading  citizens 
of  the  town,  which  was  then  about  one-fourth  its  present  population. 
For  a  dozen  years  both  sexes  were  admitted  to  the  Academy.  A  poor 
student  preparing  for  the  ministry  was  required  to  pay  no  tuition,  and 
very  frequently  found  kind  people  who  gladly  gave  him  his  board.  The 
number  of  pupils  attending  the  Academy  at  one  time  amounted  to  ninety 
of  each  sex.  After  young  ladies  had  been  excluded,  the  number  varied 
between  seventy-five  and  one  hundred.  Connected  with  the  Academy  as 
a  pupil  was  Mary  Lyon,  the  founder  of  Mount  Holyoke  College  at  South 
Hadley.  Among  the  teachers,  since  become  prominent,  was  the  venera- 
ble Professor  William  S.  Tyler  of  Amherst  College.  The  Academy  build- 
ing was  a  three-story  brick  structure,  and  being  considered  unsafe,  was 
taken  down  in  1868  to  make  way  for  the  present  school-house. 

The  old  homestead  of  Judge  Strong,  once  the  adjutant-general  of 


Page  61. 


GRACE    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  63 

Massachusetts,  stands  some  distance  back  from  the  street.  It  is  now 
owned  by  Mrs.  S.  E.  Emerson. 

At  the  opposite  corner  of  North  Pleasant  Street  is  Mrs.  R.  G.  Williams' 
Select  Family  School.  The  success  of  this  institution  and  the  experience 
of  its  teachers,  who  are  Mrs.  Williams,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  and  assist- 
ants, insure  the  most  faithful  and  earnest  instruction  to  the  pupils. 

Pleasantly  situated  on  South  Prospect  Street,  near  Amity,  is  "  The 
Terrace,"  Mrs.  W.  D.  Herrick's  Home  School  for  backward  and  delicate 
children.  Mrs.  Herrick  receives  into  her  family  a  limited  number  of 
children,  who,  from  disease  or  some  untoward  circumstance,  are  unfitted 
for  the  ordinary  school.  To  these  she  devotes  herself,  faithfully  aided 
by  efficient  and  skilled  teachers,  who  give  to  each  pupil  that  care 
and  training  which  the  mental  and  physical  peculiarities  demand.  The 
Home  stands  upon  high  ground,  affording  a  commanding  view  of  the 
beautiful  Connecticut  Valley  and  the  Holyoke  Mountain  range,  and  it 
is  perfect  in  its  sanitary  appointments.  A  fine  lawn  and  ample  play- 
grounds afford  abundant  opportunity  for  out-of-door  exercise  and  recrea- 
tion. The  school  has  been  established  a  number  of  years,  and  is  favored 
with  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the  best  physicians  and  educators 
of  the  country. 

Among  the  other  residences  on  Amity  Street  are  those  of  Professor  E. 
P.  Crowellr  Dean  of  Amherst  College  ;  E.  B.  Marsh,  registrar  of  Amherst 
College  ;  Professor  Charles  Wellington,  Dr.  Charles  A.  Goessmann,  Pro- 
fessor G.  F.  Mills,  all  of  the  Agricultural  College,  and  the  summer  home  of 
Hiram  Heaton  of  New  York.  President  H.  H.  Goodell  of  the  Agricul- 
tural College  lives  on  Sunset  Avenue,  near  Amity.  On  Lincoln  Avenue, 
leading  directly  to  the  Agricultural  College,  is  one  of  the  finest  views  in 
the  town.  On  this  street  is  the  house  of  Mrs.  C.  D.  Adams. 

That  portion  of  Pleasant  Street  which  extends  northward  from  the 
hotel  is  most  aptly  named.  For  the  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile, 
great  straight-trunked  elms  line  each  side  of  the  road,  almost  uniting 
their  branches  overhead,  and  sheltering  in  the  warm  summer  time  many 
a  tuneful  katydid.  The  residences  on  the  left  side  of  the  street  are 
those  of  E.  D.  Bangs,  the  treasurer  of  the  Savings  Bank ;  the  Conkey 
Mansion,  now  the  parish  home  of  St.  Bridget's  church,  and  occupied 
by  the  pastor,  Rev.  J.  B.  Drennan ;  the  home  of  Levi  Cowles,  standing 
a  generous  distance  back  from  the  street ;  and  the  dwelling  of  George 
Cutler.  On  the  other  side,  live  W.  H.  Long,  William  Kellogg,  whose 


64 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


house  is  on  land  bought  from  Noah  Webster,  and  Dr.  O.  F.  Bigelow. 
The  Universalist  Society,  organized  November,  1887,  has  a  site  for  a 
church  building  here.  The  services  are  held  in  Masonic  Hall,  pending 
the  erection  of  the  church,  and  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Holden  is  pastor. 

The  village  cemetery  includes  within  its  limits  the  graveyard  that  was 
laid  out  by  the  town  of  Hadley  in  1830. 

On  the  road  toward  the  Agricultural  College  is  the  St.  Bridget's 
Roman  Catholic  church,  built  in  1871.  Previous  to  that  time  the 


North   Pleasant  Street. 

Catholics  of  the  town  held  their  meetings  in  Palmer's  Block,  on  the  site 
of  which  the  town  hall  now  stands.  Until  1872  the  pastors  came  from 
Northampton,  but  in  that  year  Rev.  Francis  Brennan  was  installed.  The 
pastor  since  1887,  Rev.  J.  B.  Drennan,  is  also  pastor  of  the  Hadley 
church. 

A  short  distance  beyond  is  the  residence  of  H.  D.  Fearing,  manu- 
facturer of  straw  hats. 

Leaving  Pleasant  Street  here,  it  will  be  interesting  to  return  to  Mount 
Pleasant  Street,  which  extends  over  the  hills  to  North  Amherst  "  city." 
A  short  distance  from  the  fork  of  the  two  roads  is  Wildwood  Cemetery, 
a  most  beautiful  spot,  bought  and  laid  out  in  1888  by  a  private  cor- 
poration. 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  67 

About  a  mile  from  the  village,  on  the  left  of  the  road,  is  the  Mount 
Pleasant  House,  of  which  Mrs.  W.  F.  Bullman  is  the  proprietor.  The 
estate  was  formerly  the  property  of  Colonel  W.  S.  Clark,  president  of  the 
Agricultural  College,  and  cost  him  nearly  $40,000.  The  house  stands 
upon  the  highest  part  of  the  hill,  nearly  four  hundred  feet  above  sea- 
level,  and  commands  views  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  that  are  limited 
only  by  the  range  of  one's  vision.  It  was  after  long  travelling  in 
foreign  countries  that  Henry  Ward  Beecher  stood  here  looking  off 


upon  the  wide  landscape,  and  said.  "  I  have  seen  nothing  finer  in  the 
world,"  —  a  remark  that  has  been  repeated  often  by  visitors  of  equal 
prominence.  The  extensive  grounds  of  the  estate,  with  its  spacious 
lawns  and  shaded  walks,  are  always  models  of  the  gardener's  art. 

Returning  to  the  village  square,  a  walk  to  the  American  House  brings 
one  to  the  corner  of  Lessey  Street.  The  first  two  estates,  on  the  left, 
belong  to  E.  F.  Cook,  the  president  of  the  Savings  Bank.  The  second 
of  these  is  occupied  by  Mr.  Cook,  and  the  first  by  Lieutenant  L.  W. 
Cornish,  military  instructor  at  the  Agricultural  College.  For  many  years, 
the  Northampton  and  Amherst  stages,  owned  by  Mr.  Cook,  made  their 


68  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

two  daily  trips  from  the  stables  in  the  rear  of  this  house.  At  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad  they  were  discontinued.  The  place  is  of  historical 
interest,  as  it  includes  an  orchard  planted  by  Noah  Webster. 

Upon  Oak  Grove  Hill,  over  which  Lessey  Street  leads,  are  the  resi- 
dences of  Rev.  W.  S.  Tyler,  D.D.,  of  Amherst  College,  and  his  son, 
Professor  J.  M.  Tyler.  The  house  of  Dr.  Tyler  was  the  birthplace  and 
youthful  home  of  Helen  Hunt  Jackson,  whose  writings,  under  the  nom- 
de-plu-me  "  H.  H.,"  still  charm  many  readers. 

The  Chapter  houses  of  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  fraternity  are  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill.  The  "  Oak  Grove  School  "  for  young  ladies  occupies 
the  colonial  mansion,  formerly  the  residence  of  J.  Howard  Sweetser  of 
New  York,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  This  school  was  founded 
in  1885,  and  is  conducted  by  Miss  V.  W.  Buffam,  a  graduate  of  Welles- 
ley  College,  assisted  by  an  able  corps  of  instructors.  The  aim  of  the 
school  is  to  train  up  girls  with  healthy  bodies,  sound  minds,  and  refined 
manners.  The  facilities  can  hardly  be  excelled.  The  boarding  pupils 
enjoy  a  well-kept  home  in  a  charming  situation.  Preparation  is  here 
made  for  college,  several  of  the  best  institutions  in  the  State  accepting 
the  certificates  of  the  school  in  place  of  regular  examinations  for  admis- 
sion. 

Main  Street  is  a  well-travelled  thoroughfare  along  which  one  may  look 
from  the  verandas  of  the  Amherst  House.  It  crosses  New  London 
Northern  Railroad  near  the  station,  and  extends  through  East  Amherst 
to  Pelham. 

The  meeting-house  of  the  First  Congregational  Society,  on  the  right 
side  of  the  street,  was  dedicated  September  23,  1868,  the  corner-stone 
having  been  laid  September  2ist  of  the  previous  year.  The  society  dates 
back  to  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  town,  when  there  was  no  distinction 
between  the  religious  and  political  body.  The  business  of  the  parish 
was  transacted  in  public  meeting,  and  the  necessary  funds  for  its  sup- 
port were  raised  by  taxation,  together  with  those  needed  for  highways 
and  the  other  usual  expenses  of  a  town.  The  first  meeting-house  was 
built  about  1840,  upon  the  site  of  the  present  college  Observatory.  It 
was  a  severely  plain  structure  without  and  within.  Around  the  sides 
were  ranged  the  pews,  the  men  sitting  on  one  side  and  the  women  on 
the  other.  The  first  minister  was  Rev.  David  Parsons.  In  1788  a 
meeting-house  of  a  more  elaborate  character  was  erected  upon  the  same 
site,  and  three  years  after,  private  individuals  contributed  the  money  for 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  /I 

the  belfry.  The  opening  of  the  College  was  followed  by  a  need  for  bet- 
ter accommodations,  and  the  third  building,  the  present  College  Hall,  was 
erected  in  1829.  This  cost  $6500,  and  originally  had  a  portico  in  front 
supported  by  huge  pillars.  When  it  was  finished,  the  society  decided 
that  the  town  should  hold  no  meetings  in  it,  and  it  was  after  it  had 
been  occupied  some  years  that  the  people  became  worldly  enough  to 
allow  stoves,  kerosene  lights,  and  an  organ  to  be  admitted.  The  growth 


Main  Street. 

of  the  society  since  it  has  occupied  the  present  building  has  been  steady. 
It  has  now  the  largest  membership  in  the  town,  excepting  only  the  col- 
lege church.  The  building  cost  $75,000.  In  the  spring  of  1890  the 
church  celebrated  its  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary.  Until  July, 
1891,  Rev.  G.  S.  Dickerman  was  pastor. 

The  residence  of  William  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  treasurer  of  Amherst 
College,  is  situated  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  The  estate 
adjoining  has  long  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Dickinson  family,  and 
is  now  the  home  of  Miss  Lavinia  Dickinson,  whose  sister,  Emily  Dick- 
inson, left,  at  her  death,  the  wonderful  poems  which  have  since  been 


72  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

published  and  widely  read.  This  house  was  the  first  brick  building  in 
Amherst. 

The  residence  of  the  late  Professor  R.  H.  Mather  is  at  the  right. 
During  the  first  year  of  his  administration,  President  Gates  occupied  the 
house. 

Further  down  the  street,  and  standing  some  distance  back,  are  the 
residences  of  Leonard  D.  Hills,  president  of  the  National  Bank,  and  of 
Henry  F.  Hills,  president  of  the  Hills  Company,  manufacturers  of  straw 
goods. 

Beyond  the  railroad,  on  the  same  street,  is  the  church  building  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Society,  first  organized  in  1868,  with  Rev.  E.  F. 
Pitcher,  pastor,  and  reorganized  in  1875,  under  Rev.  S.  L.  Rogers. 
The  present  building  was  erected  in  1879.  In  I^>91  Rev.  S.  A.  Bragg 
was  the  pastor. 

The  residence  of  S.  A.  Stevens  is  on  the  same  side,  near  the  East 
Street. 

Grouped  near  the  railroad  station  of  the  New  London  Northern  road 
are  the  only  manufactories  of  the  village.  The  wooden  buildings  of  The 
Hills  Company  are  devoted  to  the  manufacturing  of  straw  goods.  In 
the  season  closing  May,  1891,  this  company  made  350,000  dozen  straw 
hats.  H.  D.  Fearing  &  Co.  occupy  the  brick  building.  Each  year 
they  turn  out  a  large  line  of  the  finer  grades  of  straw  hats. 

Spring  Street,  extending  eastward  from  the  centre  of  the  village 
Common,  has  several  pleasant  residences,  among  them  that  of  Professor 
D.  P.  Todd  of  Amherst  College.  The  High  School  building,  built  about 
1860,  is  here. 

College  Street  is  parallel  with  Spring  Street.  On  the  corner  of  the 
Common  is  the  Beta  Theta  Pi  House,  and  beyond,  the  Chi  Phi  and 
the  Phi  Delta  Theta  houses.  The  residences  here  include  those  of 
Dr.  H.  H.  Seelye,  assistant  in  the  physical  culture  department  of  the 
Amherst  College ;  Mrs.  Laurens  P.  Hickok,  widow  of  the  late  Dr. 
Hickok,  whose  works  on  philosophy  perpetuate  his  name  ;  Ex- President 
Julius  H.  Seelye,  whose  connection  with  Amherst  College  dates  from 
1855  •  Professor  W.  L.  Montague,  of  Amherst  College,  and  the  director 
of  the  Summer  School  of  Languages ;  Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  son  of 
the  president  of  Amherst  College  of  that  name ;  Mrs.  A.  I.  Cooper ; 
and  Dr.  T.  P.  Field. 

On  South  Pleasant  Street,  beyond  College  Hill,  are  the  Delta  Upsilon 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


75 


House  and  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Edward  Tuckerman.  Beyond  the 
railroad  bridge  is  the  home  of  the  Misses  Snell,  sisters  of  the  late  Pro- 
fessor E.  S.  Snell  of  Amherst  College.  Ever  since  the  death  of  Professor 
Snell,  the  weather  statistics  of  the  College  have  been  kept  and  published 
from  this  house. 

A  short  distance  from  here,  on  Snell  Street,  is  the  residence  of  Pro- 
fessor E.  P.  Harris  of  Amherst  College. 


Mill  Valley. 

At  Mill  Valley,  a  mile  from  the  village,  on  South  Pleasant  Street,  is  a 
picturesque  group  of  comfortable  farmhouses. 

Northampton  Street  is  the  direct  road  to  Northampton.  On  the 
corner  opposite  College  Hall  is  the  Psi  Upsilon  House,  and  next  to  it 
is  the  Chi  Psi  Lodge.  Still  further  from  the  Common  are  the  Theta 
Delta  Chi  House  and  the  homes  of  Professor  Henry  Gibbons,  Professor 
H.  H.  Neill  of  Amherst  College,  O.  D.  Hunt,  a  prominent  merchant, 
and  Professor  B.  K.  Emerson,  Professor  A.  D.  Morse,  and  Dr.  C.  A. 
Tuttle  of  Amherst  College. 

At  the  corner  of  Parsons  Street,  the  first  left,  is  the  Zion's  Congrega- 
tional church,  established  and  supported  by  the  students  of  Amherst 


76  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

College.  The  building  was  erected  in  1868,  and  in  1891  Rev.  Milton 
Waldo  was  the  pastor. 

On  Lincoln  Street,  near  the  Theta  Delta  Chi  House,  is  the  home  of 
Rev.  G.  S.  Burroughs,  pastor  of  Amherst  College. 

Dr.  Marshall  Henshaw  and  Dr.  H.  N.  Morse  live  on  Orchard  Street. 
On  this  street  and  on  Northampton  Street  are  entrances  to  the  athletic 
field  of  Amherst  College. 

North  Amherst.  —  The  road  from  Amherst  follows  along  the  rich 
highlands,  descending  a  short  hill  or  two,  and  rising  again  as  it  nears  the 
village.  Here  everything  clusters  about  a  pleasant  square,  the  stately 
white  church,  a  brick  school,  stores,  and  neat  dwellings.  Just  beyond 
the  settlement  the  historic  Mill  River,  once  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  town,  flows  westward  to  the  Connecticut.  North  Amherst  "  city  " 
is  a  mile  to  the  east,  and  Factory  Hollow,  a  diminutive  but  active  manu- 
facturing settlement,  is  a  short  distance  to  the  north. 

The  church  building  of  the  North  Congregational  Society  was  built 
in  1826.  It  contains  a  fine  organ,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  G.  E.  Fisher.  The 
society  was  organized  November  15,  1826.  Rev.  George  H.  Johnson 
was  the  pastor  in  1891. 

The  school  building  is  occupied  by  a  primary  and  a  grammar  school. 
The  North  Amherst  Library  Association  has  a  collection  of  nearly  two 
thousand  volumes  for  public  use  in  this  building. 

The  post-office  was  established  about  1839.  The  nearest  railroad 
station  is  at  the  "  City." 

Among  the  residences  here  are  those  of  Henry  W.  Haskins,  several 
years  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town,  Edmund  Hobart,  and  Jonathan 
Cowles,  whose  farm  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  State. 

North  Amherst  "City"  is  not  so  large  as  its  name  would  lead  one 
to  believe.  The  confiding  visitor  expects  something  more  than  the 
single  street,  with  its  railroad  station,  store,  church,  and  school-house. 
Beside  some  cheerful  houses,  and  a  factory  or  two,  that  is  all  there  is. 
The  village  cemetery  is  a  short  distance  on  the  road  to  Amherst. 

The  Methodist  Society,  whose  little  meeting-house  stands  near  the 
railroad  track,  was  not  regularly  organized  until  March  9,  1849,  four 
years  after  the  dedication  of  the  building.  Extensive  repairs  were 
made  upon  the  house  in  1876.  The  pastor  in  1891  was  Rev.  S.  A. 
Bragg. 

There  is  no  post-office  at  the  "  City "  ;  all  the  mail  goes  to  North 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  8 1 

Amherst,  or  is  opened  informally  at  the  railroad  station  by  the  post- 
master, who  drives  over  for  it. 

The  little  Queen  Anne  school-house  was  built  in  1890.  Among  the 
residences  is  that  of  A.  R.  Cushman,  whose  leather-board  mills  are  some 
distance  beyond  the  centre  of  the  village. 

East  Amherst,  or  "  East  Street,"  as  it  is  locally  and  perhaps  better 
known,  is  a  mile  eastward  from  the  main  village,  Amherst.  Like  that 
place,  it  is  built  around  a  grassy  remnant  of  one  of  the  old  wide  roads, 
the  east  street,  laid  out  in  1704.  This  village  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  was  the  active  centre  of  the  town.  As  late  as  the  year  1825, 
town-meetings  were  held  in  the  church  which  then  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  Common,  where  the  iron  water  trough  now  is.  The  post-office  is  a 
branch  of  that  at  Amherst. 

The  Second  Congregational  church  was  built  in  1889,  the  first  meet- 
ing-house of  the  society  having  been  erected  in  1790.  Since  1886  Rev. 
F.  J.  Fairbanks  has  been  pastor. 

The  present  beautiful  Common  was  laid  out  by  the  enterprise  of  sev- 
eral public-spirited  citizens,  among  them  Charles  O.  Parmenter,  at  one 
time  representative  to  the  General  Court. 

East  Amherst  had  the  first  post-office  of  the  town.  It  was  in  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Willard  M.  Kellogg,  on  East  Street,  some  dis- 
tance north  of  the  village  store,  and  was  opened  about  the  year  1815, 
Rufus  Kellogg  being  postmaster.  The  mails  arrived  only  once  a  week 
at  those  times,  and  it  is  within  the  memory  of  Mr.  Willard  Kellogg  that 
his  father  was  summoned  from  the  hayfield  by  the  blowing  of  a  horn  to 
change  the  mail  while  the  carrier,  who  came  on  horseback,  sought  rest 
and  refreshment.  Rufus  Kellogg,  after  a  few  years,  moved  the  office  to 
the  main  village,  keeping  it  in  the  building  now  occupied  by  Frank 
Wood.  At  the  right  on  the  Pelham  road,  just  beyond  its  comer,  near 
the  residence  of  Noah  Dickinson,  and  the  Common,  there  stood  in  1787 
a  tavern  kept  by  Oliver  Clapp,  a  friend  and  sympathizer  of  Daniel  Shays, 
the  leader  of  Shays'  Rebellion.  Landlord  Clapp  is  said  to  have  given 
aid  and  comfort  in  various  ways  to  the  insurgent  captain.  On  the  retreat 
of  Shays  from  Springfield,  January  28,  1787,  with  his  eleven  hundred 
men,  a  halt  was  made  at  the  hostelry,  but  not  for  a  long  stay,  as  General 
Lincoln,  commanding  the  State  militia,  was  following  in  the  rear.  Just 
after  Captain  Shays  had  departed  toward  Pelham,  eleven  sleigh-loads  of 
his  provisions  stopped  at  the  tavern,  where  the  horses  were  about  to  be 


82  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

fed,  but  the  loyal  innkeeper  hurried  them  after  the  retreating  rebels,  who 
were  in  great  need  of  the  stores,  and  would  have  been  seriously  affected 
if  General  Lincoln  had  appeared  in  time  to  take  the  loaded  sleighs. 

After  Clapp's  tavern  was  given  up,  another  was  built  at  the  north  end 
of  the  Common.  This  is  still  standing,  though  it  has  outlived  its  first 
use  by  many  years. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  Common  is  the  old  residence  of  General  Ebene- 
zer  Mattoon,  a  major  in  the  Revolution,  member  of  Congress  in  1801, 
a  sheriff  of  Hampshire  Country,  major-general  and  adjutant-general  of 
the  State  militia,  and  captain  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 
Company  of  Boston.  He  was  born  in  1755,  and  died  in  1843. 

A  short  distance  from  the  village  Common,  on  the  road  to  Belcher- 
town,  are  the  grounds  of  the  Hampshire  County  Agricultural  Society. 

South  Amherst  is  a  small  farming  village  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  town.  It  has  a  church,  a  post-office,  and  store,  and  not  far  away 
are  stations  of  the  Massachusetts  Central  and  New  London  Northern 
Railroads. 

The  South  Congregational  church  was  first  organized  in  1824,  and 
reorganized  in  1858.  The  church  building,  erected  in  1825,  was 
remodelled  in  1843.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  H.  B.  Chapin.  Rev. 
H.  W.  Boyd  was  pastor  in  1891. 

The  post-office  was  established  in  1838. 

The  town  almshouse,  and  farm,  near  the  east  street,  was  rebuilt,  after 
a  destructive  fire,  in  1882.  It  is  valued  at  about  $8000,  and  yields  the 
town,  under  the  superintendence  of  Henry  C.  Dickinson,  a  good  return 
upon  its  value. 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  87 


AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

A  GLANCE  AT  ITS  HISTORY— THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  PRESENT— 
THE  SUMMER  SCHOOL  OF  LANGUAGES— A  TOUR  OF  THE  COL- 
LEGE BUILDINGS— THE  GREEK  LETTER  FRATERNITIES— THEIR 
HOUSES. 

AMHERST  COLLEGE  was  opened  September  18,  1821,  under 
the  name  of  the  "Collegiate  Charitable  Institution."  On  this 
day  the  first  president  was  inaugurated,  and  the  first  building 
dedicated. 

As  long  before  as  1762,  the  people  of  Hampshire  County  had  made 
several  ineffectual  attempts  to  obtain  a  charter  from  the  General  Court 
and  the  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  to  incorporate  a 
"  seminary  of  learning."  The  matter  seems  to  have  been  forgotten  in 
the  excitement  of  the  approaching  war ;  but  the  interest  then  awakened 
was  only  in  abeyance,  and  afterward  resulted  in  the  founding  of  Williams 
College  and  the  establishment  of  Amherst  Academy.  It  was  from  this 
latter  institution  that  the  Amherst  College  developed. 

The  Academy  was  opened  in  1814.  The  residents  of  Hampshire  and 
the  surrounding  counties  subscribed  the  money  needed  for  its  support, 
and  in  1816  the  State  granted  it  a  charter.  The  building  stood  upon 
the  site  of  the  present  grammar  school-house  on  Amity  Street ;  and  the 
land  was  the  gift  of  Dr.  David  Parsons,  afterward  made  president  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees.  Many  distinguished  names  are  to  be  found  upon 
the  books  of  the  Academy,  connected  with  it  as  teachers  and  pupils. 
For  years  it  ranked  among  the  first  schools  of  Massachusetts. 

In  1818,  when  the  trustees  were  engaged  in  collecting  a  scholarship 
fund  of  Si 0,000  for  "  indigent  young  men  with  the  ministry  in  view,"  it 
became  evident  that  the  people  were  willing  to  give  a  larger  sum  for  an 
institution  of  a  higher  grade.  Accordingly,  after  more  than  $51,000 
had  been  gathered  in  conditional  subscriptions,  it  was  voted  to  found 
the  "  Collegiate  Charitable  Institution."  The  money  thus  obtained  was 
the  first  that  Amherst  College  had,  and  to-day  it  is  entered  on  the  books 
of  the  treasurer  as  the  "  Charitable  Fund." 


88  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

The  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  first  building  of  the  Charitable 
Institution,  the  present  South  College,  is  thus  mentioned  in  the  reports 
of  the  occasion :  "On  the  ninth  of  August  instant  (1820)  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  together  with  the  subscribers  to  the  fund 
then  present,  a  number  of  the  neighboring  clergy,  and  the  preceptors 
and  students  of  the  Academy,  preceded  by  the  building  committee  and 
the  workmen,  moved  in  procession  from  the  Academy  to  the  ground 
of  the  Charity  Institution."  The  dedication  exercises,  the  fall  of  the 
year  following,  were  simple,  and  opened  with  an  address  by  Noah 
Webster,  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  institution  began 
September  19,  with  forty-seven  students  and  three  instructors. 

After  the  young  college  had  been  fairly  launched  upon  its  career,  the 
trustees,  who  were  still  trustees  of  the  Academy,  turned  their  attention 
toward  obtaining  a  State  charter,  which  should  give  them  the  privileges 
of  a  recognized  college.  It  was  a  long  struggle  against  well-organized 
opposition  from  Harvard,  Brown,  and  Williams  colleges.  State  politics 
were  affected  not  a  little  by  it,  but  the  publicity  of  the  agitation  only 
brought  popularity  to  the  infant  institution.  When  the  charter,  which 
changed  the  name  to  Amherst  College,  was  finally  granted,  February  25, 
1825,  the  number  of  the  students  and  instructors  had  increased  nearly 
threefold.  Upon  those  students  who  had  graduated  prior  to  the  grant- 
ing of  the  charter  the  trustees  immediately  conferred  the  honorary 
degrees  due  to  them. 

The  first  president  of  Amherst  College  was  the  Rev.  Zephaniah  Swift 
Moore,  D.D.  He  had  been  president  of  Williams  College,  resigning 
that  office  to  accept  the  position  at  Amherst.  His  official  term  was 
from  September,  1821,  to  June  29,  1823,  when  he  died.  The  following 
list  gives  the  names  and  terms  of  office  of  the  succeeding  presidents  of 
the  College  :  — 

Heman  Humphrey,  D.D 1823-1845 

Edward  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  LL.D , 1845-1854 

William  Augustus  Stearns,  D.D.,  LL.D 1854-1876 

Julius  Hawley  Seelye,  D.D.,  LL.D 1876-1890 

Merrill  Edwards  Gates,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  L.H.D.,  chosen  president  July 
30,  1890,  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office  October  27  of  the  same  year. 
His  formal  inauguration  occurred  at  the  following  commencement. 

The  government  of  the  College  is  vested  in  a  Board  of  Trustees,  whose 
corporate  name  is  "  The  Trustees  of  Amherst  College."  Its  member- 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  93 

ship  can  never  be  more  than  seventeen,  of  whom  seven  must  be  clergy- 
men and  the  remainder  laymen. 

The  College  is  not  sectarian,  and  there  are  no  sectarian  or  denomi- 
national restrictions  as  to  the  membership  of  the  Board. 

Five  positions  are  now  filled  by  the  alumni  of  the  College,  though  for 
nearly  fifty  years  the  legislature  of  the  State  exercised  this  power.  The 
Board  holds  two  regular  meetings,  usually  one  during  commencement 
week,  and  the  other  in  the  fall  of  each  year,  special  meetings  being 
called  by  the  president  when  necessary.  The  control  of  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  College  is  in  the  hands  of  the  faculty,  of  whom  the  presi- 
dent is  the  executive  officer.  This  body  in  1891  comprised  twenty-two 
professors  and  nine  lecturers  and  instructors. 

In  1882,  at  the  suggestion  of  President  Seelye,  the  faculty  associated 
with  them  in  the  direction  of  college  affairs  a  body  of  ten  students, 
known  as  the  College  Senate.  The  members  are  elected  by  their  classes, 
acting  under  established  regulations,  —  four  seniors,  three  juniors,  two 
sophomores,  and  one  freshman.  The  president  of  the  College  presides 
at  the  meetings  of  the  Senate  and  may  veto  any  of  its  actions.  All 
questions  of  decorum  and  discipline  may  be  brought  before  it,  and 
offenders  may  be  punished  by  suspension  or  expulsion  from  college. 

Since  its  beginning  the  plan  has  proved  successful  in  lessening  the 
number  of  .restriction  rules  of  the  College,  bringing  the  students  and 
teachers  in  close  yet  dignified  relations,  and  developing  a  manlier  spirit 
among  the  students.  In  a  letter  to  the  alumni  of  the  College  in  the 
fall  of  1888  President  Seelye  said  :  — 

"  The  action  of  the  faculty  in  referring  to  the  decision  of  the  Senate  all  questions 
of  college  order  and  decorum  has  been  justified  by  the  result.  The  Senate  have  con- 
sidered such  questions,  from  the  first,  intelligently  and  without  passion;  and  during 
the  past  year  there  has  been  an  evident  growth  in  their  sense  of  responsibility,  and  in 
the  weight  given  to  their  judgments  by  the  College.  The  decisions  of  the  Senate 
have  sometimes  gone  entirely  counter  to  the  prevailing  wishes  of  the  students ;  but 
they  have  been  accepted,  so  far  as  I  know,  without  dissent.  The  Senate  seems  now 
able,  not  merely  to  voice,  but  to  direct,  college  sentiment  on  matters  submitted  to 
their  jurisdiction ;  and  I  cannot  but  think  that  there  is  in  this  an  educating  force  of 
great  worth  and  promise." 

The  Amherst  method  of  student  government  has  recently  been  copied 
by  several  prominent  institutions.  The  Senate  meets  monthly  at  the 
president's  office. 


94  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

The  departments  of  instruction  may  be  divided  into  Philosophy,  His- 
tory and  Art,  Language  and  Literature,  and  Science.  The  student  is 
offered  his  choice  of  a  classical  or  a  scientific  course,  the  former  entitling 
him  at  graduation  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  the  latter  to 
that  of  Bachelor  of  Science. 

The  work  of  the  first  year  at  Amherst  College  is  prescribed  for  all 
students.  After  the  first  term  of  the  sophomore  year, 'there  is  great 
freedom  of  choice  among  an  exceedingly  broad  system  of  electives. 
Out  of  the  fourteen  to  sixteen  hours  of  work  in  a  week  for  each  student 
through  sophomore  year,  an  average  of  less  than  five ;  through  junior 
year,  a  little  more  than  one ;  and  through  senior  year,  a  little  more  than 
three,  —  which  includes  philosophy  and  oratory,  —  are  prescribed  for 
each  term. 

The  elective  studies,  open  for  choice,  include  the  fullest  work  in 
Greek,  Latin,  French,  German,  Italian,  and  Sanskrit ;  ample  courses  in 
rhetoric  and  oratory,  logic,  English  literature,  biology,  both  cryptogamic 
and  phenogramic ;  zoology,  physiology,  and  general  biology,  and  full 
opportunity  for  laboratory  work  in  chemistry.  In  geology  and  miner- 
alogy the  College  has  held  a  leading  place  ever  since  the  work  of  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock  made  its  name  as  well  known  in  England  and  Germany 
as  in  America.  For  physics,  the  new  laboratory  will  afford,  in  addition 
to  the  general  work,  ample  facilities  for  full  courses  in  electricity  and 
its  application.  There  are  full  courses  in  practical  and  theoretical 
astronomy  with  observatory  work ;  and  thorough  instruction  in  history, 
political  economy,  political  ethics,  and  the  duties  of  citizenship ;  in  psy- 
chology, moral  philosophy,  metaphysics,  and  the  history  of  philosophy, 
and  biblical  literature.  Physical  culture  is  prescribed  throughout  the 
college  course. 

Attendance  upon  college  exercises  is  required.  An  allowance  for 
necessary  absences  is  made  by  permitting  the  student  to  remain  away 
from  one-tenth  of  the  total  number  of  exercises  of  each  course  in  a 
term,  without  requiring  an  equivalent.  An  excess  of  this  proportion  of 
absences  is  made  up  by  specially  assigned  work,  the  amount  of  which 
is  determined  by  the  degree  of  the  delinquency.  In  the  case  of  excess 
of  absences  from  Sunday  services  and  morning  prayers,  special  work  in 
some  of  the  regular  courses  is  required. 

The  number  of  students  in  the  College  has  averaged  344  during  the 
ten  years  ending  1891.  It  is  a  matter  of  some  interest  to  note  that 


Page  95. 


COLLEGE    HALL. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


97 


during  the  last  few  years  about  one-seventh  of  all  the  entering  students 
have  come  to  Amherst  from  other  institutions.  In  1891  the  students 
represented  thirty  States  of  the  Union.  The  following  table  gives  the 
number  of  students  and  teachers,  at  intervals  of  five  years,  since  the 
founding  of  the  College.  It  indicates  the  fact  that  the  largest  number 
in  college,  until  after  the  year  1866,  was  259  in  1836,  and  that  between 
these  years  there  was  a  period  of  great  depression.  Since  1851  the 
increase  has  been  gradual,  but  almost  constant. 


YEAR. 
1821. 
1826. 

1836. 
1841. 
1846. 
1851. 
1856. 


NTS. 

YEAR.                     STL- 
1861 

I  7O 

1866  

2CQ 

1876 

14.2 

1881  

1  2O 

1886.  ... 

IQO 

1891 

229 

203 
261 


351 


Amherst  College  receives  students  from  a  large  number  of  prepara- 
tory schools,  some  of  the  best  of  which  are  allowed  to  enter  their  pupils 
on  certificate  of  the  work  done. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  leading  ones  :  — 

Adelphi  Academy,  Brooklyn,  X.Y. 
Boston  Latin  School,  Boston,  Mass. 
Chicago  High  School,  Chicago,  111. 
Newton  High  School,  Newton,  Mass. 
Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mass. 
Phillips  Academy,  Exeter,  N.H. 
Polytechnic  Institute,  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 
Roxbury  Latin  School,  Roxbury,  Mass. 
Saxton  River  Academy,  Saxton  River. 
Springfield  High  School,   Springfield,  Mass. 
St.  Johnsbury  Academy,  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt. 
Williston  Seminary,  Easthampton,  Mass. 
Worcester  Academy,  Worcester,  Mass. 
Worcester  High  School,  Worcester,  Mass. 

The  amount  of  pecuniary  assistance  that  Amherst  is  able  to  give  its 
worthy  students  is  constantly  increasing. 

An  enthusiastic  scholar  of  slender  means  need  not  leave  the  Col- 
lege for  want  of  aid.  Opportunities  for  earning  money  are  frequently 


9«  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

offered  by  the  residents  of  the  town,  and  desirable  positions  where  a 
student  can  aid  himself  by  rendering  service  in  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  College  are  reserved  exclusively  for  those  who  require 
financial  assistance  in  obtaining  their  education.  In  addition  to  this, 
the  beneficiary  funds  are  divided  liberally  and  justly.  The  amounts 
available  are  shown  in  this  table  :  — 

Charitable  fund $83,000 

Scholarship  fund 70,400 

Private  scholarship  gifts 470 

Fellowships 550 

Prizes l>779 


$156,196 

The  cost  of  an  education  at  Amherst  is  so  often  a  matter  of  serious 
concern  within  the  family  circle  that  reliable  data  cannot  fail  to  be 
appreciated.  Published  estimates  are  often  found  to  differ  from 
experience.  Careful  inquiries  have  been  made  among  trustworthy 
students  of  the  College,  and  the  estimates  given  below  are  based  upon 
actual  experiences.  The  effort  has  been  to  err,  if  at  all,  in  overstating 
rather  than  understating  those  expenses  which  vary  with  a  student's 
personal  habits.  The  smallest  annual  expenditure  reported  was  $308.50, 
which  included  every  item  of  cost  except  the  long  vacation.  A  large 
number  of  students  spend  less  than  $400,  and  this  can  be  done  without 
suffering  of  any  kind.  The  majority  of  students  are  believed  to  spend 
between  $475  and  $675  each  year.  In  the  following  table  the  annual 
expenditures  are  itemized  upon  four  different  scales.  The  actual  cost 
of  each  item  has  been  carefully  obtained  and  entered,  without  taking 
into  consideration  the  fact  that  it  is  almost  universally  the  custom  in 
college  to  reduce  the  net  expenses  by  renting  furniture,  or  buying  it, 
as  well  as  books,  at  second  hand,  and  of  disposing  of  them  at  the  close 
of  the  course  or  of  the  year.  These  and  other  very  useful  methods 
of  economizing  may  well  be  considered  by  students  who  wish  to 
estimate  in  advance  the  expense  of  going  through  college.  The  upper 
limit  of  expenditure  is  of  course  indeterminable.  The  estimate  in  this 
case  is  made  on  the  assumption  that  the  student  rooms  alone,  while 
in  the  three  lower  tables,  the  expenses  of  room-rent,  fuel,  lights,  and 
furniture  are  entered  as  if  shared  with  a  room-mate. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


103 


LEAST. 

ECONOMICAL.           LIBERAL. 

EXPENSIVE. 

$110.00 

8.00 

(b)   12.00 
11.00 
III.OO 

IO.OO 

50.00 

IO.OO 

5.00 
30.00 

$1  IO.OO 

15.00 
30.00 
15.00 

129.50 

15.00 
70.00 
15.00 
(a)  20.00 

IO.OO 

5.00 
35.00 

$1  10.00 

20.00 

75.00 

25.00 
148.00 

30.00 

150.00 
25.00 
(a)  20.00 
15.00 
20.00 
50.00 

$1  IO.OO 

35.00 

200.00 
40.00 
222.00 

40.00 

200.00 
4O.OO 

(a)  20.00 

20.00 

40.00 
60.00 

Books 

Room    

Fuel  and  Lights  .     .     . 
Board    

Furniture  (annual  aver- 
a£fe^)   . 

Clothing     
Washing    
Society  Fees   .... 
Stationery 

Subscriptions  .... 
Sundries     

Totals   

5357.00 

$469.50 

$688.00 

$1,027.00 

(a)  This  sum  is  believed  to  be  a  fair  average.         (b)  In  the  dormitory. 

The  Department  of  Physical  Education  and  Hygiene  deserves  especial 
attention  here,  because  it  was  the  first  to  be  established  as  a  part  of  the 
regular  course  in  any  American  college.  In  fact,  the  systems  of  physical 
culture  now  in  use  in  nearly  all  the  institutions  of  learning  in  this  coun- 
try are  largely  copies,  or  embody  many  features,  of  the  Amherst  system. 
To  the  late  President  Stearns  belongs  the  credit  of  suggesting  that  daily 
exercise  under  the  supervision  of  a  physician  should  be  a  required  por- 
tion of  the  college  student's  life.  He  had  found  that,  if  left  to  them- 
selves, the  students  neglected  to  care  for  their  health,  and  frequently 
graduated  from  college  physically  wrecked.  The  plan  he  proposed  was 
at  length  adopted  by  the  trustees,  and  a  regular  professorship  founded. 
In  1860  the  Barrett  Gymnasium  was  built  for  the  department,  and  the 
year  following  Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  the  son  of  President  Hitchcock, 
and  the  present  incumbent  of  the  position,  was  appointed.  The  history 
of  the  department  is  the  history  of  the  life  of  its  chief.  He  developed 
a  system  at  first  unknown,  then  distrusted,  but  now  approved  by  the 
most  eminent  educators. 


104  THE  HANDBOOK    OF  AM H ERST. 

The  present  organization  of  the  department  brings  within  its  scope 
everything  which  has  a  bearing  upon  the  physical  welfare  of  the  college 
students.  Its  purposes  may  be  conveniently  classed  under  these  five 
heads : — 

Personal  acquaintance  with  the  physical  condition  of  every  student. 

Requirement  of  the  amount  of  daily  exercise  which  experience  has 
shown  to  be  most  beneficial,  and  the  direction  of  all  who  take  special 
exercise. 

Examination  of  every  student  at  intervals  during  the  college  course, 
and  preservation  of  all  statistics  thus  taken. 

Class  instruction  in  anatomy,  physiology,  and  hygiene. 

Control  of  the  general  athletics  of  the  College. 

These  functions  are  fully  performed.  At  all  times  during  the  college 
year  Dr.  Hitchcock  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  general  health  of 
every  student.  Overwork  is  scarcely  possible  under  such  care,  and 
when  sickness  does  occur,  the  case  is  carefully  followed  by  the  depart- 
ment, which  interferes,  however,  in  no  way  with  the  physician  in  charge. 
Students  may  at  any  time  consult  Dr.  Hitchcock. 

Regular  exercise  in  the  Gymnasium  is  required  of  every  student  in 
college.  Each  class  assembles  four  days  in  the  week  for  a  half-hour's 
pleasant  drill  with  wooden  dumb-bells.  There  are  always  class  officers 
to  lead  the  exercise  under  the  direction  of  the  professor  or  his  assistants. 
In  a  modified  way,  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  the  department,  the 
organization  of  the  classes  is  like  that  of  a  military  body.  An  annual 
prize  drill  occurs  in  May,  the  three  upper  classes  competing.  The 
prize  on  this  occasion  is  $100,  given  by  Dr.  Rufus  P.  Lincoln,  of  the 
class  of  1862,  to  the  class  obtaining  the  highest  mark  in  the  dumb-bell 
drill  and  marching.  Athletically  inclined  students,  particularly  those  in 
training  for  any  of  the  college  teams,  are  given  every  needed  suggestion 
and  direction. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  portion  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Hitchcock, 
and  certainly  the  most  valuable  to  the  department,  is  the  system  of 
anthropometry,  or  recording  of  physical  statistics.  Three  times  during 
the  college  course  the  student  is  examined,  measured,  and  tested  in 
every  essential  function  of  the  body.  If  found  defective  or  undeveloped 
in  any  parts,  he  is  advised  what  he  may  do  to  reach,  or  exceed,  the 
usual  standard.  From  the  immense  number  of  measurements  made  in 
the  past  thirty  years,  the  department  is  able  to  give  a  valuable  and 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  IO/ 

interesting  average  of  measurements  as  a  basis  for  advice  and  the  future 
exercise  of  the  student.  The  examination  that  is  thus  made  is  more 
minute  than  that  required  in  the  United  States  army.  An  important 
feature  of  the  system,  as  practised  at  Amherst,  is  the  publication  of  the 
averages  for  the  use  of  all  who  may  be  benefited  by  them. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  conducts  classes  in  the  subjects  that  are  important  as 
giving  the  young  man  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  proper  care  of  his 
health.  This  study  is  required  early  in  the  college  course. 

In  the  direction  of  the  general  athletics  of  the  College,  the  department 
exercises  only  a  reasonable  supervision  of  the  members  of  the  base-ball, 
foot-ball,  and  athletic  teams  of  the  College.  The  control  in  the  matter 
of  conducting  the  contests  for  championships  with  other  colleges,  and 
the  financial  management  of  the  teams,  is  lodged  in  the  Athletic  Board, 
organized  in  1891,  and  consisting  of  three  members  of  the  college  fac- 
ulty, four  alumni  of  the  College,  who  are  not  members  of  the  faculty, 
and  the  managers  of  the  three  teams.  Of  these  members,  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock, as  the  head  of  the  department,  and  F.  B.  Pratt  of  the  class  of 
1887,  as  the  donor  of  the  Pratt  Field,  are  life  members. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  has  as  an  assistant,  a  practising  physician  in  the  town, 
and  since  1 890  there  has  been  a  second  assistant  under  the  provisions 
of  the  Lincoln  fellowship  fund. 

THE   SUMMER  SCHOOL   OF   LANGUAGES. 

During  a  portion  of  the  long  vacation  of  Amherst  College,  the  Summer 
School  of  Languages,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  W.  L.  Montague, 
is  in  session.  The  school  was  established  in  1877  by  Dr.  L.  Sauveur  of 
New  York  City.  From  the  beginning,  Professor  Montague  has  been 
actively  connected  with  its  management,  assuming  the  entire  control  in 
1883,  when  Dr.  Sauveur  retired.  The  school  term  opens  shortly  after 
the  College  has  closed,  and  continues  five  weeks  —  a  period  which  is 
always  pleasantly  and  profitably  occupied  with  recitations,  —  frequently 
in  the  open  air,  —  lectures,  excursions,  and  many  social  affairs. 

The  College  Chapel  forms  the  headquarters  of  the  Summer  School. 
In  this  building  are  the  director's  office  and  the  rooms  of  most  of  the 
recitations.  Walker  Hall  opens  several  of  its  rooms  for  recitations ; 
Williston  Hall  for  work  in  chemistry ;  and  the  privileges  of  the  Gymna- 
sium, Appleton  Cabinet,  the  Observatory,  and  the  Library  are  all  offered 
to  the  members  of  the  school. 


108  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

Making  no  pretensions  at  the  first  to  be  anything  more  than  a  school 
of  languages,  the  courses  of  study  have  been  gradually  broadened  until, 
in  1891,  they  were  embraced  in  twelve  distinct  courses,  as  follows: 
French,  German,  Greek  and  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish,  English  Literature, 
Art,  Chemistry,  Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English,  Physical  Education, 
Library  Economy,  and  Mathematics.  All  of  these  courses  are  graded 
so  that  the  best  advantages  are  offered  to  persons  of  every  degree  of 
accomplishment.  A  most  enjoyable  feature  of  the  French  and  German 
departments  has  always  been  the  boarding-tables,  at  which  native  teachers 
preside  and  all  English  words  are  strictly  discountenanced.  The  amount 
of  study  is  entirely  optional.  Frequent  lectures  upon  interesting  sub- 
jects are  delivered  each  week. 

The  board  of  teachers  of  the  school  comprised  eighteen  members  in 
1891,  and  three  special  lecturers.  Professor  Montague  is  himself  a 
thorough  language  student,  being  at  the  head  of  the  departments  of 
French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  in  Amherst  College.  The  instructors  in 
French,  German,  and  Italian  are  natives  of  foreign  countries,  all  highly 
educated,  and  speaking  their  language  in  its  purity  and  perfection. 

The  members  of  the  school  are,  to  a  great  extent,  teachers  of  various 
schools  throughout  the  country,  coming  to  Amherst  to  increase  their 
knowledge  and  improve  the  methods  which  can  be  gained  only  from 
native  instructors.  Besides  these,  there  are  always  many  people  who 
study  for  their  own  pleasure,  and  young  men  and  women  in  preparation 
for  college  or  special  work.  The  average  attendance  in  the  five  years 
ending  in  1890  has  been  over  two  hundred,  and  nearly  every  State  and 
Territory  in  the  Union  has  been  represented. 

An  especial  aim  of  the  school  is  to  furnish  the  best  instruction  and  to 
reduce  the  expenses  of  those  attending  to  a  minimum.  The  accom- 
panying table  gives  the  necessary  items  of  expenditure  :  — 

All  the  languages  and  lectures,  excepting  Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English,  $16 

Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English 8 

Chemistry  — 

full  day 22 

half  day , .  12 

Art  — 

out-door  sketching 8 

in-door  work 8 

normal  work 12 

wood-carving 8 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  113 

Physical  training  — 

full  course $10 

half  course 5 

Mathematics  — 

one  subject 10 

two  subjects 18 

Library  Economy 10 

To  members  of  the  School  of  Languages  a  reduction  of  $2  from 
each  item  under  Chemistry,  Art,  Physical  Training,  and  Mathematics  is 
allowed.  If  only  lectures  are  attended,  the  charge  is  $i  each  course. 

The  sessions  of  the  school  have  always  proved  successful  from  a 
social  as  well  as  a  scholarly  standpoint.  Amherst  offers  a  wealth  of 
natural  enjoyment  that  is  never  unappreciated,  and  excursions,  drives, 
and  picnics  are  as  numerous  as  there  are  days  in  the  school.  Taken  all 
in  all,  the  life  of  a  summer  school  student  is  far  from  being  irksome. 


THE   COLLEGE   BUILDINGS. 

One  of  the  chief  features  of  a  visit  to  Amherst  is  a  walk  through  the 
college  grounds,  with  a  glance  at  the  buildings  and  their  interesting  histo- 
ries. With  the  exception  of  College  Hall,  the  Church,  and  the  Cabi- 
nets, all  will  be  found  open  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day  when  the 
College  or  the  Summer  School  of  Languages  is  in  session.  The  Cabi- 
nets may  be  seen  during  fixed  hours  each  week-day,  usually  from  ten 
o'clock  to  five,  between  May  i5th  and  November  ist,  and  from  ten  to 
twelve  and  three  to  four  at  other  seasons ;  or  they  will  be  opened  at  any 
time  on  application  to  the  custodians,  whose  residences  are  usually 
bulletined  at  the  entrances. 

Perhaps  the  most  convenient  starting-point  for  such  a  tour  is  at  the 
corner  of  Northampton  Street  and  the  Common,  where  stands 

College  Hall,  which  was  built  in  1830,  by  the  First  Congregational 
Society  of  Amherst,  and  used  by  them  as  a  place  of  worship  until  1867, 
when  purchased  by  the  College  for  $8000.  The  building  is  now  used  for 
the  public  lectures,  commencement,  and  other  exercises  of  the  College, 
and  has  a  seating  capacity  of  eight  hundred,  which  may  be  increased 
by  nearly  two  hundred  if  the  platform  be  brought  into  service.  Next  to 
College  Hall  is  the 


1 14  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

Henry  T.  Morgan  Library,  enlarged  to  its  present  size  in  1882. 
The  original  building  included  the  square  portion  at  the  northeast  corner 
and  the  tower,  and  was  built  in  1853  at  an  expense  of  $10,000.  This 
was  the  first  stone  building  of  the  College.  The  new  portion,  compris- 
ing the  librarian's  office  and  the  rooms  above  it  at  the  side,  and  the 
large  book  room  at  the  rear,  was  designed  by  Allen  &  Kenway  of 
Boston,  and  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $48,381,  which  included  the 
entire  renovation  of  the  original  building.  The  whole  structure  is  of 
Pelham  granite.  In  the  hallway,  at  the  right  of  the  entrance,  and  in 
the  old  portion,  is  a  room  for  small  gatherings  and  recitations,  used  as 
headquarters  of  the  alumni  at  commencement ;  beyond  it  is  a  packing- 
room,  both  of  these  opening  into  a  large  cataloguing-room.  The  libra- 
rian's office  is  at  the  end  of  the  hallway.  On  the  walls  at  the  right  of 
this  hall  are  valuable  specimens  of  Assyrian  art,  in  the  shape  of  eight 
huge  sculptured  stone  slabs,  bearing  colossal  mythological  figures  in 
relief  and  hieroglyphic  inscriptions.  Their  actual  cost  was  about  $600  ; 
their  value  many  thousands.  These  slabs  were  presented  to  the  College 
in  1855  by  the  late  Rev.  Henry  Lobdell,  of  the  class  of  1849,  a  mission- 
ary to  Assyria,  who  died  at  Mosul  in  1850.  They  were  taken  from  the 
palace  of  Sardanapalus,  the  last  king  of  Assyria,  and  their  inscriptions 
belong  to  a  period  nine  hundred  years  before  Christ.  In  1871  Rev. 
W.  H.  Ward,  D.D.,  of  the  class  of  1856,  and  since  1870  editor  of  the 
New  York  Independent,  greatly  enhanced  the  value  of  these  works  of 
ancient  art  by  translating,  from  the  cuneiform  characters,  into  English 
the  inscriptions,  which  were  found  to  be  a  record  of  a  conquest.  The 
manuscript  translations  are  preserved  in  a  bound  volume  in  the  Library, 
and  are  very  interesting  even  to  those  not  professing  to  be  archaeological 
students.  At  the  head  of  the  stairs  is  the  book-delivery  room  of  the 
Library,  opening  from  which  is  the  reading-room,  which  occupies  the 
entire  second  story  of  the  original  building,  and  formerly  contained  all 
the  books  of  the  Library. 

The  reference  books  and  periodical  literature  are  kept  here.  This 
is  a  large,  finely  decorated  room,  lighted  by  long  windows,  and  a  lantern 
in  the  roof.  In  the  side  opposite  the  entrance  are  beautiful  stained- 
glass  windows  of  appropriate  design.  They  are  the  gift  of  Hon.  Frederic 
Ayer  of  Lowell.  Beginning  at  the  left  of  the  entrance  of  the  room,  the 
paintings  on  the  walls  are  in  this  order :  the  first  five  presidents  of  the 
College,  Drs.  Moore,  Humphrey,  Hitchcock,  Stearns,  and  Seelye ;  Pro- 


THE   HAXDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  1 1/ 

fessor  W.  S.  Tyler,  Professor  N.  W.  Fiske,  Professor  C.  B.  Adams,  Pro- 
fessor C.  U.  Shepard,  Professor  Aaron  Warner,  who  were  all  at  the  same 
time  members  of  the  faculty ;  and  Joel  Giles  of  Townsend,  Hon.  David 
Sears  of  Boston,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston  of  Easthampton,  Hon.  Chester  W. 
Chapin  of  Springfield,  S.  H.  Winkley  of  Philadelphia,  Hon.  G.  H.  Gilbert 
of  Ware,  Rev.  Dr.  Brace  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  who  have  been  liberal  bene- 
factors of  the  College.  The  portraits  in  the  book-delivery  room  are  of 
President  Stearns  and  Hon.  David  Sears.  The  attendants  will  readily 
grant  permission  to  inspect  the  book  room,  and  visitors  will  find  it  very 
interesting.  There  are  six  floors  for  the  storage  of  the  books,  each  50 
by  41  feet  in  area  and  y|-  in  height.  They  are  entirely  of  iron  lattice- 
work, which,  with  the  walls  of  solid  masonry  and  iron  door,  renders  the 
entire  room  as  nearly  fireproof  as  it  is  possible  it  could  be.  The  shelves 
are  capable  of  holding  20,000  volumes  on  each  floor,  or  more  than 
120,000  in  all.  At  the  first  of  January,  1891,  there  were  55,000  volumes 
in  the  Library,  and  the  annual  increase  is  between  2000  and  2500.  In 
1867,  the  libraries  of  the  Athenae  and  the  Alexandrian  societies,  then  in 
very  active  existence,  were  merged  into  the  college  Library,  and  for 
some  years  the  members  of  these  organizations  paid  an  annual  fee  to  the 
College  for  the  care  and  increase  of  the  volumes.  The  students  have 
always  been  allowed  almost  complete  freedom  of  access  to  the  book 
room  and  its.  contents.  The  building  bears  the  name  of  Henry  T. 
Morgan  of  Albany,  whose  generous  gifts  to  the  College  aided  in  erecting 
the  new  portion  of  the  Library.  In  1891,  William  I.  Fletcher  was  the 
librarian. 

Next  to  the  Library  stands  the 

President's  House.  This  was  erected  by  the  trustees  of  the  Col- 
lege in  the  year  1834,  and  cost  $9000.  The  first  house  erected  for  the 
president  of  the  College  is  still  standing,  and,  in  a  remodelled  condi- 
tion, is  the  chapter  house  of  the  Psi  Upsilon  Fraternity.  President 
Humphrey  occupied  the  present  house  immediately  after  its  erection. 
For  a  number  of  years  previous  to  1891  it  was  a  private  school  for 
young  ladies,  and  after  being  again  remodelled  became  the  home  of 
President  M.  E.  Gates. 

Crossing  the  head  of  the  Common,  in  front  of  the  Library,  the 

College  Fence  is  noticed  at  the  right.  This  is  an  institution  peculiar 
to  college  men.  It  is  usually  the  scene  of  the  celebration  of  the  victories 
of  the  College,  and  almost  any  summer  evening  a  group  of  students  can 


Il8  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

be  found  gathered  upon  it,  making  the  air  melodious  with  college  songs. 
It  was  presented  by  the  class  of  1889  and  dedicated  by  appropriate  exer- 
cises, in  which  the  faculty  and  students  took  part,  in  the  spring  of  1887. 
Custom  prohibits  the  freshman  class,  unless  having  won  some  honor  for 
the  College,  from  using  this  fence. 

Passing  into  the  college  grounds,  the  brick  building  at  the  right  is 

Williston  Hall,  which  occupies  the  site  of  the  former  North  College 
dormitory.  The  dormitory  was  built  in  1827  at  an  expense  of  $10,000, 
and  was  burned  early  in  the  spring  of  1857.  The  loss  occurred  during 
the  darkest  days  of  Amherst's  history,  but  it  proved  an  unexpected 
benefit.  Scarcely  had  the  flames  been  extinguished  when  the  late  Hon. 
Samuel  Williston  of  Easthampton  announced  that  he  would  erect  a  new 
building,  containing  recitation  rooms  and  laboratories  that  had  long 
been  needed  by  the  College.  Williston  Hall  was  thus  dedicated  May 
19,  1858,  and  cost  $15,000.  The  main  entrance  of  the  building  is  on 
the  north  side,  and  in  the  hallway  is  an  interesting  memorial  of  the 
Amherst  College  students  who  fought  in  the  Rebellion.  It  is  a  six- 
pound  brass  cannon,  which  was  captured  at  Newbern,  N.C.,  March 
14,  1862,  and  upon  it  is  engraved  its  history  and  the  names  of  the 
Amherst  students  —  four  officers  and  sixteen  privates  —  who  were  killed 
in  the  battle.  After  its  capture,  the  cannon  was  presented  by  General 
Burnside  to  the  Twenty-first  Regiment,  M.V.,  who  in  turn  gave  it  to 
the  trustees  of  Amherst  College  "  as  an  enduring  monument  to  the 
memory  of  their  lamented  brothers  who  fell  while  fighting  for  liberty 
and  union." 

The  Mather  Collection  of  Art  occupies  the  entire  upper  story  of  the 
building.  It  is  probably  the  finest  collection  of  plaster  casts  in  the  United 
States,  excepting  only  that  at  Boston,  Mass.  The  honor  of  the  sug- 
gestion, as  well  as  of  the  actual  gathering  of  money  and  purchasing  of 
the  collection  belongs  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Professor  Richard  H. 
Mather.  Professor  Mather  solicited,  largely  from  personal  friends,  the 
first  $10,000  of  the  fund,  and  made  the  selections  himself  when  visiting 
Europe.  The  casts  began  to  arrive  in  1874,  and  during  Professor 
Mather's  life  not  a  year  passed  without  the  addition  of  something  desir- 
able. The  collection  has  long  since  outgrown  its  present  room,  and 
until  better  accommodations  are  provided  few  additions  can  be  made, 
although  a  fund  is  constantly  accumulating. 

As  an  example  of  the  care  that  Professor  Mather  took  in  making  the 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  12$ 

collection,  it  may  be  remarked  that  it  contains  the  only  cast  in  existence 
of  the  bronze  doors  of  the  Senate  Chamber  at  Washington. 

The  design  for  these  doors  was  modelled  by  Crawford,  and  they  were 
cast  at  Chicopee,  Mass.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the  gallery  are  casts 
of  the  Ghiberti  doors  at  Florence,  Italy.  The  frescoing  about  the  room 
is  pure  Greek  in  style. 

The  Greek  lecture  room  on  the  second  story  is  reached  from  the  art 
gallery  by  the  smaller  stairway.  This  was  originally  the  hall  of  the 
Athene  Society.  The  corresponding  room  on  the  same  floor  —  reached 
from  the  door  at  the  eastern  side  of  the  tower  —  was  at  the  same  time 
occupied  by  the  Alexandrian  Society.  This  latter  room  is  used,  pending 
the  completion  of  the  new  chemical  laboratory,  as  the  laboratory  for 
advanced  work.  The  chemistry  lecture  room  is  at  the  left  of  the  south 
entrance  on  the  ground  floor,  and  the  general  laboratory  is  at  the  right. 
Crossing  the  driveway  in  front  of  Williston  Hall,  the  stone  building  at 
the  left  is 

Walker  Hall.  —  This  building  was  completed  as  it  now  stands  in 
1883,  and  cost  $87,250.  Twelve  years  previously,  a  building  of  the 
same  general  design  was  erected  on  the  same  site  through  the  gener- 
osity of  Dr.  W.  J.  Walker  of  Charlestovvn,  Mass.  The  original  Walker 
Hall  was  burned  March,  1882,  and  with  it  was  destroyed  one  of  the 
most  valuable  collections  of  minerals  in  the  country.  A  portion  of 
the  outside  wall  of  the  building  alone  remained,  and  after  it  had  been 
strengthened  on  the  inside,  became  a  part  of  the  new  Walker  Hall.  The 
expense  of  the  rebuilding  was  met  by  the  late  Henry  T.  Morgan  of 
Albany,  N.Y.,  and  in  return  he  was  honored  by  having  his  name 
attached  to  the  College  Library.  The  rooms  of  the  building  are  assigned 
as  follows  :  i,  registrar's  office ;  2,  treasurer's  office ;  4,  physics  work- 
room ;  5,  pastor's  office ;  3  and  6,  recitation  rooms ;  7  and  8,  physics 
lecture  room  and  laboratory ;  9,  president's  office  ;  10,  recitation  room  ; 
n,  astronomical  lecture  room;  12,  13,  and  14,  recitation  rooms. 

The  rooms  of  the  physics  department  are  open  for  inspection.  The 
laboratory  contains  about  $9000  worth  of  apparatus,  of  which  $2000  worth 
was  constructed  especially  for  the  College  in  Paris.  The  lecture  room  has 
upon  the  wall,  at  the  right  of  the  entrance,  a  brass  tablet  to  the  memory 
of  the  late  Professor  Elihu  Root,  placed  there  by  the  class  of  1881. 

The  Barrett  Gymnasium,  erected  in  1860  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  was 
largely  the  means  of  developing  the  system  of  physical  culture  for  which 


124 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 


Amherst  is  justly  famous.  It  was  the  first  building  in  the  country 
erected  for  gymnastic  work  in  charge  of  a  regularly  appointed  profes- 
sor. It  is  of  Pelham  granite,  and  is  70  feet  long  by  50  wide.  It  was 
designed  by  C.  E.  Parkes  of  Boston,  and  bears  the  name  of  Dr.  Benja- 
min Barrett  of  Northampton,  who  was  a  large  contributor  toward  the 
fund  for  its  erection  and  support.  Since  the  completion  of  the  Pratt 
Gymnasium  in  1884,  the  building  has  been  used  for  various  purposes, 
while  awaiting  alterations  to  make  it  a  geological  cabinet. 


The  Barrett  Gymnasium. 

When  used  as  a  gymnasium,  the  physician's  office,  dressing-rooms,  and 
bowling-alleys  were  on  the  ground  floor,  with  the  main  hall  for  class  and 
special  exercise  above. 

The  College  Church,  designed  by  W.  A.  Potter  of  New  York,  was 
erected  in  1870-71,  and  cost  $70,060,  of  which  the  late  William  F. 
Stearns,  son  of  President  Stearns,  contributed  $47,000.  The  site  for  the 
building  was  chosen  for  its  remarkable  beauty.  A  dormitory  known  as 
"  East  College  "  stood  between  it  and  the  tree-sheltered  path  leading  to 
the  college  well.  This  dormitory  was  taken  down  shortly  after  the  church 
was  completed.  The  view  from  the  rear  of  the  church  is  one  of  the 
finest  within  the  limits  of  Amherst.  Two  miles  across  the  valley,  the 
Pelham  hills  rise  in  gentle  outline,  the  range  extending  from  the  north, 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  12? 

as  far  as  can  be  seen,  until  near  the  southern  limit  of  the  town  it  is  lost 
in  the  Belchertown  hills.  The  valley,  broad  and  fertile,  is  well  popu- 
lated in  parts,  and  contains  nearly  all  the  manufactories  of  the  town. 
Toward  the  south  it  spreads  out  into  generous  farmlands  through  which 
run  two  thread-like  railways.  The  grandeur  of  this  landscape  when  the 
foliage  has  become  brilliant  in  the  fall,  is  unsurpassed  by  any  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  Commonwealth.  This  crest  of  the  College  Hill  is  visited 
by  lovers  of  nature  in  every  season  of  the  year. 

The  church  building  itself  is  not  out  of  harmony  with  its  surroundings. 
Its  gray  sides  and  brown  sandstone  trimmings  are  plentifully  covered 
with  the  soft,  clinging  ivies  planted  by  the  college  classes  at  their  gradu- 
ation. At  the  entrances  and  between  the  windows  are  soft-hued  shafts 
of  marble.  Curious  carvings  decorate  the  brown  stones  in  the  gable 
ends  of  the  building.  "Dei  Glorias"  and  "A.D.  1870"  are  on  the 
north  side ;  the  cross  and  other  symbols  of  the  Christian  Church,  with 
small  reliefs  of  the  four  evangelists,  between  the  windows,  on  the  east 
side ;  a  lantern,  thorn  branch,  passion  flower,  wheat,  and  grape  vine,  all 
typical  of  incidents  in  the  life  of  Christ,  on  the  south  side ;  and  "  Agnus 
Dei  "  and  "  Rex,"  "  Lex,"  "  Dux,"  "  Lux,"  on  the  west  side.  The  spire 
of  the  church  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  twenty-four 
feet  square  at  the  base.  Its  four  sections  are  alternately  square  and 
octagonal ..  Within  it  hangs  a  chime  of  eight  bells,  given  by  George 
Howe  of  Boston,  as  a  memorial  of  the  Amherst  boys  who  fell  in  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion.  The  gift  acquires  special  significance  from  the 
fact  that  the  son  of  Mr.  Howe  was  among  the  number  whose  lives  were 
sacrificed  for  their  country.  The  seats  in  the  main  portion  of  the  church 
are  reserved  for  the  families  of  the  faculty,  the  juniors,  and  seniors.  In 
the  right  transept  are  seated  the  freshmen,  in  the  left  the  sophomores. 
The  capacity  of  the  house  is  about  six  hundred.  The  stained  glass 
window  in  the  right  transept  was  given  by  the  Congregational  church 
at  Bedford,  Mass.,  President  Stearns'  native  place ;  that  opposite,  by 
Ex-Governor  Onslow  Stearns  of  Concord,  N.H. ;  and  that  in  the  rear  of 
the  church,  by  the  late  Eckley  Stearns  of  \Voburn,  Mass.  President 
Stearns'  former  church  at  Cambridgeport,  Mass.,  presented  the  pulpit. 
Tablets  placed  upon  the  church  walls  commemorate  the  useful  lives  of 
President  Stearns,  William  F.  Stearns,  and  Professor  Richard  H.  Mather. 
The  corner-stone  of  the  building  was  laid  in  the  autumn  of  1875,  and 
the  dedication  occurred  July  i,  1873. 


128  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

At  the  side  of  the  college  grounds,  and  south  of  the  church  is 
The  Pratt  Gymnasium,  begun  in  the  summer  of  1883,  and  completed 
the  following  spring  at  a  cost  of  $68,000.  It  ranks  third  among  the  col- 
lege gymnasiums  of  the  country,  those  of  Yale  and  Harvard  only  being 
superior  in  size  and  cost.  The  building  is  of  brick  with  brownstone 
trimmings,  and  is  122  feet  long  and  88  wide.  It  bears  the  name  of  Pratt 
Gymnasium  in  recognition  of  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Charles  M.  Pratt  of 
New  York,  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1879.  In  the  hall,  at  the  right 
of  the  main  entrance  of  the  building,  is  a  brass  tablet,  bearing  this 
inscription :  — 

ERECTED  BY 

CHARLES  MILLARD  PRATT,  OF  BROOKLYN,  N.Y., 

CLASS  CAPTAIN  OF  THE  CLASS  OF  '79, 
TO  INCREASE  THE  USEFULNESS  OF  HIS  ALMA  MATER  IN 

THAT  DEPARTMENT  IN  WHICH  HE  EVER  FELT  AN 
INTEREST,  AND  TO  EXPRESS  THE  WARM  AFFECTION  WHICH 
HE  CHERISHED  FOR  ITS  FAITHFUL  HEAD, 
DR.  EDWARD   HITCHCOCK. 

The  office  of  the  professor  of  hygiene  and  physical  culture  and  the 
room  for  making  physical  examinations  and  recording  statistics  occupy 
the  corner  of  the  first  floor,  between  the  main  and  side  entrances.  The 
other  rooms  on  this  floor  are  the  large  dressing-room,  containing  274 
heated  and  ventilated  lockers,  and  shower-bath,  dry-rub,  and  small 
dressing-rooms.  The  main  hall  is  80  feet  long  by  64  wide,  and  contains 
such  apparatus  as  is  needed  for  class  and  individual  exercise.  It  is  two 
stories  high,  and  lighted  and  ventilated  from  the  sides  and  roof.  A 
running-gallery,  207  feet  lof  inches  long  and  6  feet  wide,  encircles  the 
hall  ii  feet  above  the  floor.  In  the  second  story  is  the  "Resort,"  the 
headquarters  of  the  college  weekly,  The  Amherst  Student,  and  a  store- 
place  for  many  highly  prized  trophies  and  relics  of  college  interest ;  a 
billiard  room,  the  only  one  in  the  country  connected  with  a  college 
gymnasium,  and  containing  a  pool  and  two  billiard  tables;  and  the 
rooms  for  the  custodians  of  the  building.  The  basement  has  a  base-ball 
cage,  76  by  21  feet,  three  bowling-alleys,  70  feet  long,  and  a  sparring- 
room.  Tub  and  sponge  baths  of  the  best  patterns,  dressing,  and  furnace 
rooms  occupy  the  remainder  of  the  basement. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  l$l 

As  the  visitor  passes  up  the  walk  from  the  main  entrance  of  the 
Gymnasium,  directly  in  front,  is 

Appleton  Cabinet,  erected  in  185 5,  at  an  expense  of  Si 0,000,  appro- 
priated for  the  purpose  by  the  trustees  of  the  will  of  the  late  Samuel 
Appleton  of  Boston.  Mr.  Appleton  left  the  sum  of  $200,000  at  the 
disposal  of  his  executors  to  be  used  for  benevolent  and  scientific 
purposes,  and  it  was  in  response  to  the  urgent  appeals  of  President 
Hitchcock,  then  in  office,  that  the  money  for  this  building  was  obtained. 
The  portion  of  the  Cabinet  first  approached  as  the  visitor  proceeds  from 
the  Gymnasium,  is  the  biological  laboratory  and  lecture  room,  where 
specimens  for  class  work  and  illustration  are  kept. 

The  main  part  of  the  building  has  been  made  almost  completely  fire- 
proof for  the  protection  of  the  collections  that  are  stored  hi  it.  The 
entrance  from  the  biological  lecture  room  is  closed  by  heavy  iron  doors. 
The  second  story  is  devoted  to  the  Adams  Zoological  Museum,  a  large 
part  of  which  was  the  gift  of  the  late  Professor  C.  B.  Adams.  The  col- 
lection of  insects  and  shells  are  kept  in  the  horizontal  cases.  The  latter 
collection  comprises  about  eight  thousand  species,  and  of  it  Professor 
Louis  Agassiz  once  said,  "  I  do  not  know  in  all  the  country  a  con- 
chological  collection  of  equal  value."  In  the  gallery  at  the  head  of  the 
hall  has  been  placed  the  Audubon  collection  of  birds,  presented  to  the 
College  in  1886  by  the  Hon.  E.  E.  Farnam,  of  the  class  of  1855.  It  is 
valued  at  $1200.  The  cast  of  the  skeleton  of  the  American  Megathe- 
rium, near  the  entrance,  was  the  gift  of  the  late  Joshua  Bates  of  London, 
England.  The  original  skeleton  was  found  in  Buenos  Ayres,  South 
America. 

The  ground-floor  of  the  Cabinet  is  chiefly  occupied  by  the  Hitchcock 
Ichnological  collection,  made  by  the  late  President  Hitchcock  between 
the  years  1835  anc*  1864.  President  Hitchcock  was  the  originator  and 
developer  of  the  science  of  Ichnology,  and  this  collection  is  the  largest 
and  most  valuable  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It  now  consists  of  21,773 
tracks  of  animals  of  120  different  species,  all  belonging  to  the  general 
name  of  Lithichnozoa,  or  Stone-track  animals.  Most  of  the  slabs  were 
taken  from  stone-quarries  at  Turner's  Falls,  South  Hadley,  and  Holyoke. 
Complete  reports  of  the  discoveries  were  prepared  by  President  Hitch- 
cock, and  submitted,  in  1853  and  1865,  to  the  State.  Among  the  most 
interesting  of  these  slabs,  as  one  passes  through  the  room,  is  the  large 
horizontal  stone  at  the  left,  marked  with  the  tracks  of  the  great  "  Oto- 


132  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

zoum."  It  was  found  at  Mount  Tom  station ;  and  on  the  table  beside 
it  is  the  reverse  of  the  impression.  This  enormous  animal  had  the  bulk 
of  an  elephant  and  the  build  of  a  toad.  On  the  wall,  behind  the  bust  of 
President  Hitchcock,  is  a  set  of  specimens  which  prove  the  animals 
making  these  tracks  to  have  been  quadrupeds.  The  marks  show  the 
fore-feet,  the  trace  of  the  tail  and  the  hind-feet,  with  imprints  of  the  heels, 
as  if  the  animal  had  crouched  down  on  the  soft  mud.  On  the  stairway 
wall  is  another  interesting  stone,  which  has  the  footprints  of  an  animal 
that  had  lost  one  of  its  toes,  the  impressions  showing  first  a  two-toed, 
and  then  a  three-toed  foot.  In  the  first  wall  case  are  the  only  bones  of 
the  track-making  animals  ever  found  in  Massachusetts.  The  next  slab 
at  the  left,  standing  on  edge,  shows  impressions  of  the  feet  of  an  enor- 
mous animal,  the  tracks  being  a  foot  long,  and  between  them  running  a 
great  tail-trace.  The  large,  framed  slab  has  interest  because  it  was  used 
a  long  time  as  a  flagstone.  Near  it  hangs  the  egg  and  leg-bones  of  an 
existing  bird  of  New  Zealand.  They  were  placed  there  at  the  time  the 
track-making  animals  were  thought  to  be  birds  :  at  the  present  time 
they  are  generally  believed  to  have  been  reptiles. 

The  next  slab  is  marked  by  the  feet  of  an  enormous  three-toed  bird  ; 
the  imprints  will  hold  a  gallon  of  water,  and  are  three  times  the  size  of 
those  of  an  elephant.  The  central  one  of  the  side  rooms  contains,  on 
the  walls  and  tables,  a  collection  of  slabs  remarkable  for  the  great  variety 
of  insect  tracks.  More  insect  tracks  and  the  most  perfect  footprint  of 
a  reptile,  ever  found,  are  in  the  last  side  room.  The  footprint  shows 
plainly  all  the  wrinkles  of  the  epidermis  of  a  three-toed  foot.  Under 
the  windows  in  this  room  are  stones  marked  by  rain-drops,  one  of  them 
showing  the  steps  of  a  lizard-like  reptile,  who  turned  a  sharp  corner  in 
his  haste,  throwing  his  tail  outside  of  the  row  of  his  footprints.  There 
are  several  specimens  of  what  President  Hitchcock  designated  as  "  stone 
books "  here.  They  show  the  same  footprint  through  a  number  of 
layers  of  stone,  and  when  split  open  form  a  book,  the  leaves  of  which 
fit  into  one  another. 

The  Gilbert  Museum  of  Indian  relics  is  placed  in  the  first  of  the 
three  small  rooms.  There  are  four  hundred  specimens  of  the  stone 
implements  used  by  the  North  American  Indians,  especially  those  of 
the  Connecticut  Valley.  The  collection  took  the  name  of  the  Hon. 
George  H.  Gilbert  of  Ware,  who  contributed  largely  toward  the  expense 
of  gathering  it. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  135 

Passing  out  of  the  main  entrance  of  the  Cabinet,  the  brick  building 
at  the  right  is 

The  South  College  Dormitory.  This  is  the  oldest  building  on  the 
college  grounds,  originally  containing  both  recitation  and  living  rooms. 
Its  corner-stone  was  laid  in  the  summer  of  1820  by  the  trustees  of 
Amherst  Academy,  and  the  building  completed  in  a  little  more  than 
three  months,  the  dedication  occurring  in  September  of  the  year  follow- 
ing. The  institution  was  then  known  as  the  Amherst  Charitable  Insti- 
tution. Noah  Webster,  president  of  the  Academy,  and  afterward 
president  of  the  trustees  of  the  Institution,  delivered  the  oration  at 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  The  building  is  100  feet  long  and 
30  wide,  and  cost  $10,000,  raised  by  subscription.  Much  of  the 
material  used  in  the  construction  was  contributed  by  persons  living  in 
Amherst  and  the  neighboring  towns,  even  at  the  distance  of  twenty-five 
miles.  On  one  occasion  these  acceptable  gifts  were  received  just  as 
work  was  about  to  be  suspended  for  want  of  material  to  carry  it  on.  At 
present  the  building  contains  thirty-two  double  rooms.  In  the  summer 
of  1891  extensive  alterations  were  made  in  this  building,  steam  heat 
and  other  improvements  being  introduced,  and  the  suites  of  rooms  so 
arranged  that  each  student  might  have  a  well-lighted  bedroom ;  provis- 
ions made  to  accommodate  three  or  four  students  who  desire  to  occupy 
a  common  room  as  a  study.  The  views  from  the  windows  of  some  of 
the  upper  rooms  are  magnificent. 

The  College  Chapel,  next  to  the  South  College  Dormitory,  was  built 
in  1827,  and  bore  for  some  time  the  name  of  Adam  Johnson  of  Pelham, 
who  bequeathed  money  for  its  erection.  The  suits  at  law  conducted  by 
the  college  authorities  to  establish  the  validity  of  the  will  reduced  the 
legacy  to  $4000,  and  £11,000  had  to  be  raised  from  other  sources. 
The  building  measures  100  by  56  feet.  For  many  years  it  accom- 
modated all  the  departments  of  instruction  in  the  College.  Dr.  Tyler 
says  that  beside  the  Chapel  proper,  the  "  building  originally  contained 
four  recitation  rooms,  a  room  for  philosophical  apparatus,  and  a  cabinet 
for  minerals  on  the  ground-floor,  two  recitation  rooms  on  the  second 
floor,  a  library  on  the  third  floor,  and  a  laboratory  in  the  basement." 
The  basement  was  the  chemical  workshop  of  Professor  Hitchcock, 
afterward  president  of  the  College.  The  arrangements  have  been  very 
little  altered  since  then.  The  two  rooms  on  the  second  floor  form 
now  the  small  chapel,  and  the  rooms  above  are  seldom  used.  In  the 


136 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HE  It  ST. 


main  chapel,  morning  prayers  are  held.  The  seniors  are  assigned  the 
seats  in  the  centre  of  the  room  hall,  the  juniors  on  their  right,  and 
the  sophomores  on  their  left.  The  gallery  is  for  the  freshmen  and 
visitors. 

In  favorable  weather  the  ascent  of  the  College  Chapel  tower  will  repay 
the  visitor.  There  are  ninety-eight  steps  to  climb,  and  the  summit  com- 
mands a  magnificent  view  of  the  Connecticut  Valley.  The  stone  step 


Woods  Cabinet  and  Observatory. 

in  the  main  doorway  of  the  building  is  358  feet  above  sea-level.  The 
clock  in  the  tower  was  presented  "by  L.  H.  McCormick,  '81.  The 
next  building, 

The  North  College  Dormitory,  was  built  in  1822,  after  the  same 
plan  as  South  College.  Until  the  erection  of  the  Chapel,  daily  prayers 
were  held  in  rooms  in  the  building.  Its  cost  was  $10,000.  Whenever 
the  demand  for  rooms  warrants,  this  building  will  be  altered  in  the  same 
manner  as  was  South  College.  On  the  knoll,  in  front  of  the  North 
College  Dormitory,  is  situated 

The  Woods  Cabinet,  with  the  College  Observatory  and  the  geological 
lecture  rooms  adjoining.  The  building  stands  upon  the  site  of  the  first 
meeting-house  of  the  First  Congregational  Society.  The  Cabinet  and 
the  Observatory  were  built  in  1847  at  a  cost  °f  $9°°°>  which  was  raised 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST.  H1 

by  subscription,  the  name  of  Hon.  J.  B.  Woods  of  Enfield  being  given 
to  the  Cabinet,  and  that  of  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence  to  the  Observatory, 
in  recognition  of  their  bequests  to  the  College.  The  geological  lecture 
room  was  added  in  1855,  and  cost  Siooo  ;  and  two  years  afterward 
Enos  Dickinson  of  South  Amherst  gave  the  Dickinson  Nineveh  Gallery, 
which  for  twenty-seven  years  held  the  sculptured  slabs  now  in  the  hall- 
way of  the  College  Library.  The  collections  in  this  building  cover  the 
whole  subject  of  geology  and  mineralogy.  The  main  room  on  the  lower 
floor  contains  a  collection  valued  at  $10,000,  illustrating  the  geology 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  with  particularly  complete  collections  from 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  The  large  collection  of  minerals  in 
trays  is  not  open  to  public  inspection.  On  the  second  floor  is  the  Shep- 
ard  collection  of  meteorolites,  and  in  the  gallery  a  very  large  collection 
illustrating  the  geology  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere. 

The  Observatory  consists  of  an  octagonal  tower,  50  feet  high  and  17 
feet  in  diameter,  with  a  revolving  dome  and  a  central  pedestal  supporting 
a  telescope  with  an  aperture  of  7^  inches  and  a  focal  lens  of  8£  inches. 
The  telescope  was  presented  by  Hon.  Rufus  Bullock  of  Boston,  and 
cost  Si 800.  In  the  transit  room,  13  by  15,  is  a  transit  circle  built  by 
Gambey  of  Paris,  the  telescope  having  a  focal  length  of  about  3  feet 
and  an  aperture  of  2\  inches. 

Pratt  Field,  on  Northampton  and  Orchard  streets,  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  college  buildings,  comprises  about  thirteen  acres  of 
land  presented  for  athletic  purposes  in  1890  by  Fred  B.  Pratt,  of 
Brooklyn,  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1887.  The  field  is  laid  out  with 
a  quarter-mile  oval  track,  a  hundred-yards  straight-away  track,  and  a 
short  track  for  jumping.  A  handsome  grand-stand,  designed  by 
William  B.  Tubby  of  New  York,  and  having  a  seating  capacity  of 
six  hundred,  was  erected  in  1891  at  the  west  end  of  the  oval.  It 
contains  ample  conveniences  for  the  use  of  the  college  teams,  including 
dressing-rooms  and  baths.  Other  portions  of  the  field  are  to  be  laid  out 
for  lawn  tennis  and  other  out-of-door  sports.  The  entire  field  cost 
about  S 2 0,000,  of  which  about  $9000  was  the  price  of  the  grand- 
stand, all  being  the  gift  of  Mr.  Pratt. 

Hallock  Park,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  railroad  cut,  belongs  to 
the  College  :  most  of  it  was  a  gift  of  Leavitt  H.  Hallock,  of  the  class 
of  1863. 

On  the  further  side  of  Snell  Street  is  Blake  Field,  which  for  many 


H2  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

years  was  the  only  athletic  field  of  the  College.  To  Lucien  I.  Blake, 
of  the  class  of  1877,  belongs  the  credit  of  acquiring  this  field.  In 
1876  he  gathered  about  $900  from  the  alumni  of  the  College,  paying 
the  $600  additional  in  a  mortgage  in  the  name  of  the  athletic  associa- 
tion. In  1890  this  debt  was  assumed  by  the  trustees.  The  first  athletic 
field  of  the  College  is  now  included  in  Pratt  Field.  It  was  sold  to  the 
Massachusetts  Railroad,  who  at  first  proposed  to  lay  their  track  through 
it,  and  recently  re-purchased. 


THE   FRATERNITY   HOUSES. 

Nine  of  the  many  Greek-letter  fraternities  of  the  country  are  repre- 
sented among  Amherst  College  students.  In  order  of  their  establish- 
ment here,  they  are :  Alpha  Delta  Phi,  Psi  Upsilon,  Delta  Kappa 
Epsilon,  Delta  Upsilon,  Chi  Psi,  Chi  Phi,  Beta  Theta  Pi,  Theta  Delta 
Chi,  and  Phi  Delta  Theta.  This  number  is  probably  larger  in  pro- 
portion to  the  size  of  the  College,  than  can  be  found  at  any  similar 
institution  in  the  United  States ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  the  college 
authorities  are  unanimous  in  believing  that  Amherst  has  been  benefited, 
intellectually  and  socially,  by  the  presence  of  these  fraternities.  Thus 
far,  any  well-recognized  fraternity  has  found  its  efforts  to  establish  a 
chapter  at  Amherst  warmly  seconded  by  the  faculty,  although,  on 
account  of  the  rapid  increase  during  the  last  few  years,  it  is  hardly 
probable  that  this  policy  will  be  continued.  During  the  few  years 
directly  following  the  establishment  of  the  earlier  chapters,  the  senti- 
ment of  the  College  generally  opposed  the  idea  of  secrecy,  and  the 
open  literary  and  debating  clubs  were  very  formidable  rivals  for  society 
honors.  At  the  present  time  the  open  societies  have  disappeared,  with 
one  exception,  and  more  than  eighty-two  per  cent  of  all  the  members 
of  the  College  belong  to  the  Greek-letter  fraternities.  The  actual 
numbers  of  students  in  college  and  members  of  the  fraternities,  since 
1889,  when  the  last  chapter  was  established  here,  are  shown  by  the 
accompanying  table  :  — 

STUDENTS  IN  MEMBERS  OF 

COLLEGE.  FRATERNITIES. 

'1888-89 358      299 

1889-90 344  281 

1890-91 352  289 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  147 

The  following  letter  of  Ex- President  Julius  H.  Seelye,  printed  in  the 
Century  Magazine  for  September,  1889,  gives  an  admirable  idea  of  the 
advantages  of  the  societies  to  their  members,  as  well  as  of  their  position 
and  relations  to  the  College  :  — 

"  Others  can  give  a  more  accurate  opinion  than  I  upon  college  fraternities  else- 
where; but  so  far  as  Amherst  is  concerned  there  can  be  only  a  favorable  judgment 
concerning  them  by  any  one  well  informed.  Without  a  doubt  they  exercise  here  a 
wholesome  energy,  both  upon  their  individual  members  and  upon  the  College.  Com- 
bination is  strength,  whether  with  young  men  or  old;  and  where  men  combine  for 
good  ends,  better  results  may,  of  course,  be  looked  for  than  where  the  same  ends  are 
sought  by  individuals  alone. 

"  Now  the  aim  of  these  societies  is  certainly  good.  They  are  not  formed  for 
pleasure  simply,  though  they  are  one  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  pleasure  in  a 
student's  college  life.  Their  first  aim  is  the  improvement  of  their  members,  —  im- 
provement in  literary  culture  and  manly  character.  They  are  all  of  them  literary 
societies.  An  effort  was  made  not  long  since  to  introduce  among  us  a  new  society, 
with  prominently  social,  rather  than  literary  aims;  but  it  not  only  failed  to  receive 
the  requisite  assent  of  the  president  of  the  College,  but  was  not  favored  by  any  con- 
siderable number  of  the  students,  many  of  whom  stoutly  opposed  it. 

"  One  of  the  happiest  features  of  society  life  at  Amherst  is  connected  with  the 
society  houses.  There  are  no  better  residences  in  the  village  than  these,  and  none 
are  better  kept.  They  are  not  extravagant,  but  they  are  neat  and  tasteful;  they  have 
pleasant  grounds  surrounding  them ;  the  cost  of  rooms  in  them  is  not  greater  than 
the  average  cost  in  other  houses,  and  they  not  only  furnish  the  students  occupying 
them  a  pleasant  home,  but  the  care  of  the  home  and  its  surroundings  is  itself  a  culture. 

"  There  need  be  no  objection  to  these  societies  on  account  of  their  secrecy.  The 
secrecy  is  largely  in  name;  it  is,  in  fact,  little  more  than  the  privacy  proper  to  the 
most  familiar  intercourse  of  families  and  friends.  Treated  as  the  societies  are  among 
us,  and  occupying  the  ground  they  do,  no  mischief  comes  from  their  secrecy.  Instead 
of  promoting  cliques  and  cabals,  in  point  of  fact  we  find  less  of  these  than  the  history 
of  the  College  shows  before  the  societies  came.  The  rivalry  between  them  is  a 
healthy  one,  and  is  conducted  openly  and  in  a  manly  way. 

"  The  societies  must  give  back  to  the  College  the  tone  they  have  first  received.  I 
am  persuaded  that  in  any  college  where  the  prevailing  life  is  true  and  earnest,  the 
societies  fed  by  its  fountain  will  send  back  bright  and  quickening  streams.  They 
certainly  give  gladness  and  refreshment  to  our  whole  college  life  at  Amherst." 

All  of  the  fraternities  represented  at  Amherst  have  chapter  houses, 
and  in  most  cases  own  them.  These  buildings  are  large  enough  to 
accommodate  at  least  a  portion  of  the  members  beside  providing  parlors, 
reading-rooms,  and  a  lodge  room  for  general  use.  The  chapters  of 
Chi  Psi,  Psi  Upsilon,  and  Alpha  Delta  Phi  now  own  the  entire  southern 


I4  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

end  of  the  square  bounded  by  the  village  Common,  Northampton  Street, 
and  South  Prospect. 

The  members  of  the  fraternities  are  usually  glad  to  welcome  their 
friends  for  the  inspection  of  the  houses  at  any  time,  excepting  only 
on  Tuesday  evenings,  which  are  universally  observed  as  "  society 
nights." 

Presuming  that  visitors  to  Amherst  have  acquaintances  in  each 
fraternity  ready  to  become  their  hosts,  the  following  order  will  be  found 
convenient  for  a  tour  of  the  houses  :  — 

The  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  (Sigma  Chapter)  house  is  situated  on 
Oak  Grove  Hill,  Lessey  Street,  a  short  walk  east  from  the  Amherst 
House.  The  original  portion  of  the  house  and  the  grounds  were  pur- 
chased by  the  chapter  in  1885,  and  the  new  part  added  the  same  year. 
Together  they  now  accommodate  eighteen  students.  The  Delta  Kappa 
Epsilon  fraternity  was  founded  in  1844  at  Yale  University,  and  in  1890 
had  thirty-one  chapters  and  about  eight  thousand  members.  The 
Amherst  Chapter  was  organized  in  1846,  the  original  members  being 
six  students  of  the  class  of  1848.  The  quarters  of  the  chapter  have 
been  successively  in  North  College,  Cook's  Block,  and  the  present 
dwelling-house  of  W.  H.  H.  Morgan  on  Maple  Avenue.  The  chapter 
has  thirty-four  active  and  more  than  five  hundred  alumni  members, 
among  the  more  prominent  of  these  latter  being  General  F.  A.  Walker, 
president  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology;  Judge  I.  H. 
Maynard,  assistant  secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  President  Cleveland's 
administration ;  Charles  Hallock,  editor  of  Forest  and  Stream  ;  Mel- 
vil  Dewey,  librarian  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  Rufus  G.  Kellogg,  donor 
of  the  Kellogg  prizes  in  Amherst  College. 

Returning  to  the  Amherst  House,  and  proceeding  in  the  direction  of 
the  College,  at  the  right  are  the 

Alpha  Delta  Phi  (Amherst  Chapter)  houses,  which  occupy  the  lot 
on  the  corner  of  Pleasant  and  Sellen  streets,  and  extending  back  to 
North  Prospect  Street.  The  new  house  was  erected  in  1890,  and  is  a 
three-story  and  basement  building,  the  materials  used  being  Elyria 
sandstone,  pressed  brick,  and  terra  cotta.  On  the  first  floor  are  drawing, 
banquet,  and  reading  rooms ;  while  the  two  upper  floors  furnish  accom- 
modations for  eighteen  members  of  the  chapter.  The  house  stands 
some  distance  back  from  the  street,  and  faces  the  village  Common.  The 
chapter  also  owns  the  lot  of  land  in  the  rear  of  this  house,  fronting  on 


I 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  153 

South  Prospect  Street.  The  old  house  stands  in  the  rear  of  the  new 
one,  facing  the  side  street.  Originally  a  dwelling-house,  it  was  pur- 
chased by  the  society  in  1874.  It  was  the  first  chapter  house  to  be 
established  in  Amherst,  and  contains  rooms  for  sixteen  students.  The 
Alpha  Delta  Phi  fraternity  was  established  in  1832,  by  Samuel  Eels,  and 
has  a  membership  of  over  five  thousand.  The  Amherst  Chapter  was 
the  first  chapter  of  a  Greek-letter  fraternity  to  be  established  at  Amherst, 
and  its  total  membership  is  a  little  over  five  hundred.  The  active 
membership  of  the  chapter  averages  about  thirty-three. 

Among  the  alumni  of  the  chapter  the  names  of  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  Rev.  Roswell  Dwight  Hitchcock,  Rt.  Rev.  Frederic  Dan  Hunt- 
ington,  Rev.  Richard  Salter  Storrs,  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock  (president 
of  Amherst  College  from  1845  to  I^54)>  Hon.  John  E.  Sanford,  and 
Rev.  E.  Winchester  Donald  are  prominent.  Next  to  the  Alpha  Delta 
Phi  houses,  and  facing  the  village  Common,  is  the 

Psi  Upsilon  (Gamma  Chapter)  house.  The  building  was  erected  as  a 
residence  for  the  first  president  of  the  College,  Rev.  Zephaniah  S.  Moore, 
and  was  the  "President's  House"  until  1833.  Its  corner-stone  was 
laid  by  Noah  Webster,  and  the  trustees  of  "  The  Collegiate  Charitable 
Institution,"  September  18,  1821,  directly  following  the  inauguration  of 
President  Moore  and  the  dedication  of  South  College.  It  was  bought 
by  the  chapter  in  August,  1879,  and  now  accommodates  fourteen  stu- 
dents. The  Gamma  Chapter  was  established  in  1841,  by  sixteen  mem- 
bers of  the  classes  of  1842,  1843,  anc^  1844.  For  some  years  it  was 
virtually  a  junior  class  society.  The  first  rooms  were  in  South  College ; 
and  later,  after  one  or  two  changes,  in  Cutler's  Block.  This  latter 
building  was  burned  July  3,  1879,  destroying  nearly  all  the  possessions 
of  the  chapter.  In  1890  the  chapter  bought  the  adjoining  estate  on  the 
corner  of  the  Common  and  Northampton  Street,  intending  to  erect  here 
a  second  building.  The  Psi  Upsilon  fraternity  was  founded  at  Union 
College  in  1833,  and  in  1891  had  17  chapters  and  about  7000  mem- 
bers. In  that  year  the  Gamma  Chapter  had  38  active  members  and 
425  living  alumni,  among  whom  are  Ex-President  Julius  H.  Seelye  of 
Amherst  College,  Dr.  Charles  H.  Parkhurst  of  New  York,  Ex-Governor 
Andrews  of  Connecticut,  Hon.  George  B.  Loring  of  Washington,  Arthur 
S.  Hardy  of  Hanover,  N.H.,  Professor  Herbert  B.  Adams  of  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  President  H.  H.  Goodell  of  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College,  and  Henry  D.  Hyde,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 


154  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM II ERST. 

On  the  corner  of  Northampton  and  South  Prospect  streets,  adjoining 
the  grounds  of  the  Psi  Upsilon  Chapter,  is  the 

Chi  Psi  (Alpha  Chi)  Lodge,  erected  in  1884,  after  plans  made  by 
Robert  S.  Stephenson  of  New  York.  The  Alpha  was  founded  in 
November,  1864,  by  members  of  the  classes  of  1864,  1865,  and  1866, 
and  owns,  in  addition  to  the  lot  on  which  the  house  is  situated,  the  estate 
in  the  rear,  known  as  the  Burt  place.  The  membership  is  small,  rarely 
exceeding  six  men  from  each  class.  The  Chi  Psi  fraternity  was  founded 
at  Union  College  in  1841,  and  has  Alphas  in  sixteen  colleges,  embracing 
in  their  membership  about  three  thousand  men.  The  lodge  contains 
rooms  for  thirteen  members,  beside  ample  parlors,  library,  and  room  for 
fraternity  purposes.  The  fraternity  is  represented  in  public  life  by 
Chief  Justice  Fuller,  Ex-Speaker  T.  B.  Reed,  J.  Sterling  Morton,  and  Ex- 
Postmaster  General  Dickinson,  and  among  other  members  are  Commo- 
dore Elbridge  T.  Gerry,  Hugh  Cole,  Esq.,  Francis  M.  Scott,  Frederick 
D.  Tappan,  William  Astor  of  New  York,  General  Duane,  late  Chief  of 
Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  President  Thomas  W.  Palmer  of  the  Columbian 
Exposition,  President  Brainard  of  Middlebury  College,  and  Robert  Earl 
of  the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals. 

On  the  right,  further  down  Northampton  Street,  stands  the 

Theta  Delta  Chi  (Mu  Deuteron  Charge)  house,  which  was  pur- 
chased by  the  charge  in  1889,  and  an  addition  made  in  the  summer 
of  1890.  The  charge  was  founded  in  1885,  by  twenty-four  members 
of  the  classes  of  1885,  1886,  1887,  and  1888,  and  for  five  years  occu- 
pied the  second  and  third  stories  of  Dickinson's,  and  the  adjoining 
block,  Pleasant  Street.  The  present  house  accommodates  twenty  stu- 
dents, and  the  membership  of  the  charge  in  1891  was  thirty-five  under- 
graduates and  fifty-one  alumni. 

The  Theta  Delta  Chi  fraternity  was  founded  at  Union  College  in 
1846,  and  comprised,  in  1891,  nineteen  charges.  Before  the  war  the 
fraternity  was  very  strong  in  the  Southern  States,  but  it  is  now  repre- 
sented in  that  section  almost  solely  by  its  alumni. 

Returning  to  the  corner  of  Northampton  Street,  and  crossing  the 
Common,  the  building  on  the  left  corner  of  College  Street  is  the 

Beta  Theta  Pi  (Beta  Iota  Chapter)  house,  purchased  for  a  chap- 
ter house  in  1886,  and  accommodating  twenty  of  the  members.  The 
chapter  grew  out  of  a  local  society,  the  "Torch  and  Crown,"  which 
was  founded  in  1878  by  members  of  the  class  of  1881,  and  in  the  fall 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  157 

of  1879  occupied  the  present  Theta  Delta  Chi  chapter  house,  on 
Northampton  Street.  .The  "  Torch  and  Crown  "  received  a  charter  from 
the  Beta  Theta  Pi  fraternity  in  1883,  and  was  made  a  chapter  of  that 
fraternity.  In  1891  the  fraternity  had  sixty  chapters,  and  over  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  undergraduate  members. 

Among  its  prominent  members  are  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  John  W. 
Noble ;  Justices  James  M.  Harlan,  Stanley  Matthews,  and  William  B. 
Woods,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States ;  besides  ten  United 
States  senators,  forty  United  States  representatives,  fifteen  State  gov- 
ernors, and  six  ministers  to  foreign  countries. 

Proceeding  down  College  Street,  the  second  house  at  the  left  is  the 

Chi  Phi  (Phi  Chapter)  house,  built  in  1885  by  the  chapter,  then  of 
nine  years'  standing.  The  building  is  of  the  Queen  Anne  style,  and 
furnishes  apartments  for  eleven  students.  From  the  time  of  the  organ- 
ization of  the  chapter  until  the  present  house  was  completed,  the  head- 
quarters were  in  Palmer's  Block,  which  once  occupied  the  site  of  the 
town  hall.  The  Chi  Phi  fraternity  was  founded  in  1854,  at  Princeton 
College,  and  now  has  twenty-two  chapters.  Among  the  one  hundred 
and  sixty  alumni  and  active  members  of  the  Phi  Chapter  are  Hon. 
Henry  Stockbridge,  '77,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Kelsey, 
'76,  of  Boston,  who  had  much  to  do  with  the  institution  of  the  chapter. 

Further -down  this  street,  and  opposite  the  home  of  Ex-President 
Seelye,  is  the 

Phi  Delta  Theta  (Massachusetts  Beta)  house.  The  chapter  was 
founded  May  9,  1888,  with  twenty- three  members  from  the  classes  then 
in  college,  and  at  once  leased  its  present  building  and  grounds  of  their 
owner,  Professor  W.  C.  Esty,  securing  the  right  of  future  ownership.  It 
was  the  sixty-fifth  chapter  of  the  fraternity,  which  was  founded  at  Miami 
in  1848.  During  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  the  chapter-roll  was  reduced 
to  five  ;  and  two  of  these  were  the  causes  of  the  reawakening  of  the 
fraternity.  The  organization  is  controlled  by  a  general  council  and 
province  presidents,  whose  power  is  absolute  within  their  spheres,  —  a 
convention  of  the  chapters  once  in  two  years,  and  a  province  conven- 
tion once  in  two  years.  In  1891  there  were  sixty-six  undergraduate  and 
twenty-four  alumni  chapters,  the  whole  membership  being  6803  under- 
graduates and  alumni.  The  fraternity  numbers  among  its  members 
Benjamin  Harrison,  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  only  remaining  fraternity  house  is   situated  on  South  Pleasant 


158  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

Street,  and  to  reach  it  the  visitor  should  return  to  the  corner  of  North- 
ampton Street,  and  pass  College  Hall,  the  Library,  and  dwelling-houses, 
on  the  way  to  the  Central  Massachusetts  station. 

The  Delta  Upsilon  (Amherst  Chapter)  house  was  purchased  in  1882, 
thirty-five  years  after  the  founding  of  the  chapter.  The  rooms  first 
occupied  were  in  South,  and  later  in  North,  College.  The  chapter  was 
re-established  in  1869,  a  hall  being  fitted  up  in  Palmer's  Block,  which 
stood  on  the  site  of  the  town  hall.  Four  years  after,  the  chapter  moved 
to  quarters  in  Kellogg's  Block,  where  a  hall  and  several  suites  of  rooms 
were  occupied  by  the  members,  until  the  present  house  was  entered. 
The  Delta  Upsilon  fraternity  was  founded  in  1834  at  Williams  College, 
and  the  Amherst  Chapter  in  1891  numbered  twenty- nine  active  and 
334  alumni  members.  Among  the  latter  are  :  Rev.  George  Washburn, 
president  of  Robert  College,  Constantinople ;  Rev.  Daniel  Bliss,  presi- 
dent of  the  Protestant  College  at  Beirout,  Syria ;  William  Swinton,  author 
of  Swinton's  educational  works;  Rev.  Hiram  C.  Hayden,  president  of 
Adelbert  College,  Cleveland,  O. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  l6l 


THE   AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE. 

HIS  TORICAL    NO  TES  —  PRESENT    CONDI  TIOXS  —  THE     EXPERIMEN  T 
STATIONS— A     GLANCE    AT    THE    BUILDINGS. 

THE  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  was  one  of  the  first  institu- 
tions of  its  kind  to  be  founded  in  the  United  States.  By  an  act 
passed  July,  1862,  Congress  granted  to  each  State  a  portion  of  the 
public  lands,  the  money  from  the  sale  of  which,  it  was  provided,  should 
go  toward  establishing  and  maintaining  at  least  one  college  where  "  the 
leading  object  shall  be,  without  excluding  other  scientific  studies,  and 
including  military  tactics,  to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are 
related  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  in  order  to  promote  the 
liberal  and  practical  education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several 
pursuits  and  professions  of  life."  The  State  legislature  formally  accepted 
this  grant  April  18,  1863,  and  afterward  set  aside  one-third  of  it  for  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  at  Boston.  The  trustees  for  the 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  were  incorporated  by  an  act  of  April 
29,  1863,  and  they  found  their  share  of  the  Congressional  grant  to  be 
360,000  acres  of  land,  which  afterward  yielded  $146,000.  The  corpora- 
tion organized  with  Governor  Andrew  as  president,  A.  W.  Dodge,  Esq., 
vice-president,  and  Charles  L.  Flint,  secretary;  but  in  1864  the  legisla- 
ture changed  the  legal  name  of  the  institution  to  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College,  and  Hon.  Henry  E.  French  of  Cambridge  was 
elected  president,  the  Governor  remaining  an  ex-officio  member  of  the 
board  of  trustees.  The  question  of  the  location  of  the  College  provoked 
much  discussion  among  the  parties  interested.  The  decision  came  when 
the  town  of  Amherst  promised  $50,000,  and  sufficient  land  at  a  reason- 
able rate,  the  trustees  accepting  the  offer  May  25,  1864,  and  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  approving  the  choice  soon  after.  The  present  estate 
of  the  College  —  383^-  acres  —  was  then  purchased  at  a  cost,  including 
the  buildings  then  standing,  of  about  £43,000.  The  erection  of  the  first 
college  buildings  was  authorized  by  the  trustees  May  26,  1866.  In  this 
year  President  French  resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Hon.  Paul 
A.  Chadbourne,  who  in  his  turn  retired  the  following  year  because  of  ill 


1 62  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HERS  T. 

health.  The  work  of  the  trustees  up  to  this  time  had  been  simply  pre- 
paratory to  the  opening  of  the  College,  and,  therefore,  the  list  of  actual 
presidents  may  be  said  to  commence  with  President  Clark,  who  suc- 
ceeded President  Chadbourne.  The  terms  of  office  of  the  presidents 
were  as  follows  :  — 

Colonel  William  S.  Clark,  Ph.D.,  LL.D 1867-1877 

Charles  Louis  Flint,  A.M.,  LL.B .  1879-1880 

Hon.  Levi  Stockbridge 1880-1882 

Hon.  Paul  Ansel  Chadbourne (Second  Term)    1882-1883 

James  Carruthers  Greenough,  M.A 1883-1886 

President  Henry  Hill  Goodell  was  the  acting  president  during  six 
months  of  1883,  and  in  July,  1886,  was  elected  to  the  position  which 
he  still  holds. 

The  College  was  opened  for  students  October  2,  1867,  the  entering 
class  numbering  thirty-three.  The  instructors  numbered  four.  Before 
the  close  of  the  term  there  were  fourteen  more  students. 

The  faculty  comprised,  in  1891,  twelve  members  exclusive  of  the 
president.  This  body  has  the  general  direction  of  the  College  in 
matters  relating  to  the  curriculum  and  to  discipline. 

The  State  Board  of  Agriculture  constitutes  a  board  of  overseers 
of  the  College,  and  through  their  special  committees  make  frequent 
examinations  of  the  work  and  condition  of  the  institution.  Their 
annual  reports  are  submitted  to  the  legislature,  and  are  published  as 
public  documents. 

The  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  is  awarded  to  successful  graduates, 
the  governor  of  the  Commonwealth  signing  the  diploma.  By  a  special 
arrangement  between  the  authorities  of  the  College  and  the  Boston 
University,  the  former  has  become  the  Agricultural  Department  of 
the  University,  and  receives  its  students  in  that  science.  Students 
of  the  Agricultural  are  permitted  to  matriculate  with  the  University,  and 
on  graduation  may  receive  its  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science,  in  addition 
to  that  of  the  College,  thus  obtaining  the  privileges  of  alumni  in  both 
institutions.  A  military  diploma  is  granted  at  the  discretion  of  the 
professor  of  military  science  and  tactics. 

The  course  of  study  at  the  College  is  entirely  prescribed,  and  is 
largely  scientific  in  its  nature.  There  are  ample  provisions,  however, 
for  the  study  of  literature  and  the  languages. 

Generous  financial  aids  are  offered  to  students  who  wish  to  obtain  an 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


I65 


education  at  a  small  expense.  As  nearly  all  the  scholarship  funds  of 
the  College  have  been  established  by  the  legislature,  students  coming 
from  homes  within  Massachusetts  are  favored  before  those  from  other 
States.  In  addition  to  the  following  specified  sums,  $5000  is  devoted 
each  year  to  the  payment  of  those  who  perform  work  in  the  various 
departments.  About  $120  is  given  annually  in  prizes.  The  scholar- 
ships are  :  eighty  State  scholarships,  established  by  the  legislature  of 
1886,  $10,000;  fourteen  Congressional,  established  by  the  trustees, 
$1120;  private  bequests  (the  income  of  $3000)  amounting  to  5150. 
Application  for  one  of  the  State  scholarships  is  made  to  the  State  senator 
of  the  district  in  which  the  student  resides ;  and  for  a  Congressional 
scholarship,  to  the  representative  to  Congress. 

The  necessary  expenditures  of  a  student  in  college  are  estimated  as 
closely  as  possible  in  the  accompanying  table.  It  is  assumed  in  these 
that  the  student  actually  pays  for  each  item,  any  beneficiary  money  which 
may  be  credited  to  him  by  the  College,  or  any  other  means  which  may 
be  adopted  to  reduce  the  cost  of  an  education,  not  being  taken  into 
consideration.  It  is  believed  that  the  estimate  in  the  "  Least  "  column 
may  be  followed  without  injurious  deprivation  of  any  kind.  The  students 
are  required  to  room  in  the  college  dormitories,  and  with  a  room-mate  ; 
the  items  of  rent,  furniture,  fuel,  and  light  are  reduced  by  being  shared. 
The  actual  cost  of  these  items  to  each  student  is  therefore  entered  in  the 
estimates.  In  the  rent  of  the  higher-priced  rooms,  steam  heat  is  included. 


LEAST. 

MODERATE.                   AMPLE. 

Tuition       
Books  and  Stationery  .... 
Room  Rent 

SSo.oo 
8.00 
24.00 
8.00 
90.00 

II.OO 
IO.OO 

30.00 

(15-75) 
3.00 

15.00 

(30.00) 

$80.00 
I2.OO 
36.00 
15.00 
IO8.OO 
15.00 
15.00 
6o.OO 
(15-75) 

8.00 
5.00 
25.00 

10.00 

(30.00) 

$80.00 

20.00 

48.00 

25.00 
126.00 
25.00 
25.00 

IOO.OO 

(15-75) 

15.00 

IO.OO 

40.00 

10.00 

(30.00) 

Furniture  (annual  average)  . 
Board   .     . 
Fuel  and  Light  
Washing    
Clothing 

*Military  Suit      
Society  and  Class  Taxts   .     .     . 

Subscriptions 

Sundries    . 

Boston  University  Course      .     . 
*Laboratorv  Fee 

Totals    

5279.00 

$389.00 

$524.00 

*  Each  of  these  items  occur  only  once  during  the  college  course,  and  are  not  included  in  the  totals. 

1 66  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

The  military  department  of  the  College  is  under  the  direction  of  an 
officer  of  the  United  States  army,  detailed  to  the  position  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  War.  Instruction  in  military  drill  tactics  is  made  one  of  the 
requirements  of  the  College  by  the  act  of  Congress  providing  for  the 
establishment  of  the  institution.  Each  student,  not  physically  incapaci- 
tated, is  thus  under  the  surveillance  of  the  commandant.  The  cadet 
battalion,  organized  with  four  companies,  is  officered  by  the  students  of 
the  -upper  classes ;  and  the  drills  are  held  three  times  each  week. 
Recitations  upon  the  tactics  and  the  art  of  war,  and  practical  instruc- 
tion in  target,  artillery,  and  mortar  practice  are  features  of  the  depart- 
ment. During  the  sessions  of  the  College,  the  rooms  of  all  the  students 
are  inspected  once  a  week  by  the  commandant.  Most  of  the  arms 
and  ammunition  used  in  the  battalion  are  provided  by  the  United 
States.  The  military  diploma,  awarded  by  the  commandant  at  the  sat- 
isfactory completion  of  the  college  course,  recommends  the  receiver 
to  an  office  if  volunteer  troops  are  ever  called  for  by  the  State  author- 
ities. 

Connected  with  the  Agricultural  College  in  their  aims,  yet  distinct  in 
organization  and  work,  are  the  State  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
and  the  Hatch  Experiment  Station.  These  are  so  nicely  arranged  that 
they  supplement  each  other  in  their  experiments,  neither  one  attempting 
the  same  line  of  investigations  as  the  other,  although  in  several  instances 
the  same  person  is  in  charge  of  similar  departments  in  the  College  and 
in  both  of  the  stations.  This  plan  lessens  the  necessary  expenses,  and 
increases  the  funds  available  in  every  department  of  experiment,  resulting 
in  unusually  large  returns  in  proportion  to  the  outlay.  The  organizations 
of  the  two  departments  are  here  given. 

The  Massachusetts  State  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  was 
established  in  1882,  by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  passed  May  12  of  that 
year.  The  Station  was  located  at  the  State  Agricultural  College,  forty- 
eight  acres  of  land  being  leased  from  the  College,  and  its  management 
was  vested  in  a  board  of  control  of  seven  members,  the  governor  of  the 
Commonwealth  being  president  ex  offido.  The  sum  of  $3000  was  first 
appropriated  for  equipping  the  new  station,  and  $5000  a  year  thereafter 
granted  for  its  maintenance.  This  annual  grant  was  increased  in  1885 
to  $10,000.  The  objects  of  the  investigations  of  the  Station  were  fully 
set  forth  in  the  original  act  as  follows  :  "  The  causes,  prevention,  and 
remedies  of  the  diseases  of  domestic  animals,  plants,  and  trees.  The 


-111  I  II      ; 

**  --  j  R; 


Page  167. 


THE  CHAPEL   AND    LIBRARY. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST.  169 

history  and  habits  of  insects  destructive  to  vegetation,  and  the  means  of 
abating  them.  The  manufacture  and  composition  of  both  foreign  and 
domestic  fertilizers,  their  several  values,  and  their  adaptability  to  dif- 
ferent crops  and  soils.  The  values,  under  all  conditions,  as  food,  for  all 
farm  animals,  for  various  purposes,  of  the  several  forage,  grain,  and  root 
crops.  The  comparative  value  of  green  and  dry  forage,  and  the  cost 
of  producing  and  reserving  it  in  the  best  condition.  The  adulteration 
of  any  articles  of  food  intended  for  use  of  men  or  animals ;  and  in  any 
other  subjects  which  may  be  deemed  advantageous  to  the  agriculture 
and  horticulture  of  the  Commonwealth." 

After  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  Experiment 
Station,  Charles  A.  Goessmann,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  was  elected  director  and 
chemist,  which  positions  he  has  held  ever  since.  The  director  has  six 
trained  assistants  in  the  chemical  work  and  one  in  the  field.  The  mem- 
bership of  the  Board  of  Control  was  increased  in  1888  to  eleven.  They 
are  elected  for  terms  of  years,  —  two  from  the  members  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture,  two  from  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College,  one  from  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  promoting 
Agriculture,  one  from  the  Massachusetts  State  Grange,  and  one  from 
the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  appointed  by  the  respective 
organizations,  and  the  president  of  the  State  Agricultural  College,  the 
director  of  the  Station,  and  the  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture. This  Board  of  Control  submits  to  the  legislature,  through  the 
director  of  the  Station,  an  annual  report  of  its  investigations,  twenty-five 
thousand  copies  of  which  have  been  printed  each  year  since  1889.  The 
Station  also  issues  occasional  bulletins  of  ten  thousand  copies  each,  and 
monthly  statements  of  official  analyses  of  commercial  fertilizers  during 
the  months  of  April  and  October  of  every  year. 

The  work  at  the  Experiment  Station  is  limited  only  by  the  amount 
of  money  available.  Each  new  source  of  revenue  opens  a  corresponding 
channel  of  investigation.  The  annual  income  amounts  to  $16,500,  of 
which  $10,000  is  received  from  the  State,  $5000  from  the  Hatch  Experi- 
ment Station  in  return  for  doing  the  entire  chemical  work  of  that  insti- 
tution, and  about  $1500  from  certificates  issued  to  dealers  in  commercial 
fertilizers  as  required  by  law. 

The  grounds  of  the  State  Experiment  Station  are  leased  from  the 
Agricultural  College,  at  merely  nominal  rental,  for  a  period  of  ninety- 
nine  years,  and  comprise  forty-eight  and  one-half  acres,  of  which  ten 


I/O  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

are  woodland.     Seventeen  and  three-quarters  acres  are  on  the  west  side 
of  the  county  highway,  and  thirty  and  a  half  on  the  east  side. 
The  buildings  of  the  Station  are  valued  as  follows  :  — 

Chemical  Laboratory  (with  fixtures) $15,000 

Agricultural  and  Physical  Laboratory  (two) 12,000 

Farmhouse 2,000 

Barn  and  Feeding  Stables  (with  fixtures) 6,000 

The  Hatch  Experiment  Station  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College  was  organized  in  1887  under  the  provisions  of  the  Hatch  act, 
which  passed  Congress  and  was  approved  by  the  President,  March  2, 
of  that  year.  The  act  established  experiment  stations  in  all  the  States 
and  Territories  of  the  Union,  with  the  object  of  promoting  "  scientific 
investigation  and  experiment,  and  the  principle  and  application  of  agri- 
cultural science."  For  each  station  the  annual  appropriation  of  $15,000 
was  granted ;  of  the  first  year's  income,  not  more  than  twenty  per  cent, 
and  the  years  following,  not  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  this  sum  might 
be  used  for  erecting  buildings  for  the  Station.  The  president  of  the 
Agricultural  College,  Henry  H.  Goodell,  A.M.,  was  elected  director,  and 
Frank  E.  Paige,  of  Amherst,  treasurer  of  the  Station,  which  positions 
they  have  held  ever  since.  The  departments  of  the  Station,  as  now 
established,  are  Agriculture,  Horticulture,  Entomology,  and  Meteorology. 
The  Station  is  always  engaged  in  investigations  important  to  the  farmer 
and  other  classes  in  the  State.  Quarterly  bulletins  of  about  eleven 
thousand  copies  are  issued.  Of  the  annual  income,  $5000  is  paid  by 
the  Station  to  the  chemical  department  of  the  State  Experiment  Station, 
where  all  the  work  of  that  kind  is  performed.  The  property  of  the 
Hatch  Experiment  Station  is  divided  among  the  various  departments 
as  follows  :  — 

Agricultural  (barn) $4000 

Horticultural  (greenhouses) 2800 

Entomological  (insectary) 2000 

Meteorological  (apparatus) 1800 

THE    COLLEGE    BUILDINGS. 

The  Agricultural  College  is  situated  on  North  Pleasant  Street, 
about  a. mile  from  the  village  of  Amherst.  Lying  upon  the  western 
slope  of  Mount  Pleasant,  it  overlooks  the  entire  Connecticut  Valley, 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  173 

within  the  boundaries  of  the  prehistoric  lake.  The  extensive  grounds 
are  always  admirably  kept,  and  the  buildings  offer  many  things  of  in- 
terest to  the  visitor.  The  distance  is  convenient  for  a  pleasant  walk  or 
drive,  and  as  the  institution  has  been  considered  by  the  leading  agricul- 
turists who  have  visited  it  from  the  United  States  and  Europe,  as  the 
finest  in  this  country,  it  certainly  should  not  be  neglected. 

In  making  the  tour  of  the  college  buildings,  it  will  be  found  most 
convenient  to  enter  the  grounds  by  the  way  of  Amity  Street  and  Lincoln 
Avenue,  or  by  North  Pleasant  Street,  in  either  case  commencing  with 
the  college  barn,  at  the  left,  and  following  the  course  marked  out  in  this 
book. 

The  first  building  to  be  noticed  is  the 

College  Barn,  built  in  1869,  and  altered  to  its  present  form  in  1889 ; 
valued  at  $14,500.  The  building  contains  the  specimens  used  for 
illustration  in  the  department  of  agriculture  in  the  College.  For  this 
purpose  there  are  typical  specimens  of  farm  stock,  representing  the 
different  breeds  of  horned  cattle  and  swine,  a  valuable  stallion,  and  a 
small  flock  of  sheep.  The  apparatus  for  farm  work  is  very  complete. 
The  building  is  so  neatly  kept  as  to  be  attractive  even  to  persons  who 
have  no  special  connection  with  agricultural  affairs.  In  the  manage- 
ment of  the  college  farm  it  is  intended  to  illustrate  the  systems  and 
methods  best  suited  to  the  conditions  of  this  locality,  and  in  all  the 
operations  the  possible  educational  effect  is  kept  prominently  in  view. 
While  labor  on  the  farm  is  not  compulsory,  not  a  little  is  performed  by 
the  students,  and  every  opportunity  is  given  to  any  who  specially  desire 
instruction  in  any  particular  line  of  farm  work  to  obtain  it.  The  dwell- 
ing-house adjoining  the  barn  is  occupied  by  the  superintendent  of  the 
college  farm  and  his  assistants. 

Some  distance  southward  from  these  buildings,  and  just  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  college  grounds,  is  the  D.  G.  K.  Society  house.  This 
was  bought  in  1891,  from  Professor  C.  D.  Warner,  whose  residence 
it  was. 

The  next  building  is  the 

Drill  Hall,  erected  in  1883,  at  an  expenditure  of  $6500,  a  legislative 
appropriation  for  the  purpose.  The  Armory,  at  the  right  of  the  entrance, 
contains  the  arms  furnished  by  the  State  to  the  college  corps  of  cadets. 
The  main  hall  is  123  feet  long  and  48  feet  wide,  and  has  an  asphalt 
floor.  It  is  heated  by  a  hot- water  system,  introduced  in  1888.  This 


1/4  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

comfortable  winter  quarters  of  the  corps  is  used  by  the  students  as  a 
gymnasium.  The  second  floor  of  the  building  contains  the  command- 
ant's office,  and  a  recitation  room  for  the  classes  in  military-tactics 
science.  A  short  stairway  leads  into  the  tower  of  the  building.  On 
the  campus  adjoining  this  building  are  earthworks  for  use  in  mortar 
practice  —  a  part  of  the  regular  military  training  of  the  College. 

On  the  right  is  the 

College  Chapel,  completed  in  1886,  at  a  cost  of  $31,000,  which  was 
provided  for  the  purpose  by  special  legislative  appropriations.  The 
material  used  in  construction  is  Pelham  granite,  with  brownstone  trim- 
mings. The  two  entrances  at  the  south  end  of  the  building  lead  into 
the  alumni  headquarters,  and  by  winding  staircases  to  the  hall  above. 
The  college  library  occupies  the  main  portion  of  the  lower  floor.  This 
contained,  in  1891,  about  ten  hundred  volumes,  and  its  rate  of  increase 
during  the  past  three  years  has  been  twelve  hundred  .volumes  annually. 
The  president's  office  is  situated  on  this  floor.  The  second  story  forms 
a  hall  capable  of  seating  six  hundred  people,  and  here  the  Sunday  ser- 
vices of  the  College,  and  the  commencement  exercises  are  held.  The 
building  is  heated  by  steam  and  lighted  by  electricity. 

The  South  College  Dormitory,  beyond,  was  first  built  in  1867,  and 
contained  several  recitation  rooms  and  the  college  library.  On  February 
4,  1885,  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  rebuilt  in  1886,  at  a  cost  of 
$37,000,  a  special  appropriation  by  the  legislature.  The  building  is 
brick,  three  stories  in  height,  and  contains  twenty  suites  of  double 
rooms  for  students.  The  south  wing  overlooks  the  college  campus  and 
parade  ground.  In  the  north  wing  are  recitation  rooms  and  the  museum 
of  the  biological  department.  The  collection  in  this  museum  contains 
representatives  of  every  type  of  American  animal,  and  is  valued  at  about 
$3500.  The  office  of  the  Hatch  Experiment  Station  is  in  the  tower  of 
this  building. 

The  meteorological  observatory  of  the  Hatch  Experiment  Station  is 
also  located  in  the  tower.  The  observatory  was  established  by  money 
granted  under  the  Hatch  Experiment  Stations  act  of  Congress,  and  it 
is  modelled  as  nearly  as  possible  after  the  Central  Park  observatory  in 
New  York  City.  Observations  were  commenced  by  Professor  C.  D. 
Warner,  the  first  and  present  director,  on  January  i,  1889.  The  instru- 
ments in  use  are  all  of  the  Draper  self-recording  pattern,  which  ordi- 
narily require  the  attention  of  the  observer  not  oftener  than  once  a  week. 


THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 


177 


The  most  important  of  them  is  the  electrograph,  which  was  constructed 
after  Professor  Warner's  design  by  Elliott  Brothers,  London,  England. 
It  measures  the  electric  potential  of  the  atmosphere,  and  keeps  a  record 
by  a  delicate  and  continuous  photographic  process.  The  instrument, 
when  received  by  the  observatory  in  October,  1890,  was  considered  the 
most  delicate  and  the  most  complicated  ever  constructed. 

The  instruments  in  the  observatory,  and  their  cost,  are  as  follows  :  — 

Electrograph $600 

Mercurial  barometer 250 

Evaporimeter 240 

Sun  thermometer 175 

Direction  of  wind 1 75 

Force  of  wind 1 75 

Rain-gauge 175 

Thermometer 30 

The  meteoro- 
logical depart- 
ment issues 
monthly  and  an- 
nual bulletins  of 
its  observations, 
and  these  are  sent 
to  any  one  who 
applies  for  them. 
In  1890  the 
monthly  circula- 
tion of  the  bulle- 
tins numbered 
400.  Next  is 
noticed  the 

North  College  Dormitory,  completed  in  the  fall  of  1868.  Its  cost 
was  $36,000,  and  sixty- four  students  may  be  accommodated  in  it.  The 
college  reading-room  is  on  the  first  floor. 

Just  behind  this  building  is  the 

Laboratory  Building,  the  first  of  the  college  buildings,  erected  in 
1867.  Originally  a  two-story  building,  it  has  been  altered,  now  being 
valued  at  $10,360.  It  now  contains  the  chapel,  used  for  morning 
prayers,  the  laboratory  of  the  zoological  department,  and  a  part  of  the 


The  Laboratory   Building. 


178  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

chemical  department,  on  the  first  floor ;  the  rooms  of  the  mathematical, 
physical,  and  chemical  departments,  on  the  second ;  and  an  interesting 
collection  of  agricultural  implements  from  Japan  in  the  third.  This  last 
story  was  formerly  the  drill  hall  of  the  cadet  battalion,  and  is  now  used 
as  a  museum  until  a  special  building  is  erected. 

Across  the  ravine  is  the  residence  of  the  college  pastor,  and  next  to 
it  is  a 

Boarding-House,  built  by  the  College  in  1868,  costing  $8000.  For 
a  number  of  years  it  was  managed  by  the  college  authorities,  but  in 
1891  was  in  the  hands  of  a  boarding-club  of  sixty  students.  The  house 
accommodates  the  family  in  charge  of  the  practical  details. 

The  Barn,  of  the  Hatch  Experiment  Station,  is  in  the  rear  of  the 
boarding-house.  Built  in  1889,  and  costing  $4000,  it  is  used  for  experi- 
ments in  feeding  farm  stock,  and  in  other  matters  of  importance  to  the 
farmer.  The  building  was  burned  in  the  spring  of  1891  and  immedi- 
ately rebuilt. 

Following  the  road  as  it  completes  the  circle  of  the  college  grounds, 
the  visitor  finds  himself  before  the 

Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  State  Experiment  Station,  built  of  brick 
and  sandstone.  It  faces  to  the  south.  The  main  building  is  two  stories 
in  height,  measures  30  by  42  feet,  and  has  a  tower  projecting  from  the 
southeast  corner.  Two  parallel  wings,  each  one  story  high  and  32  feet 
long  by  19  feet  wide,  join  the  rear  of  the  building.  The  main  house 
contains,  on  the  ground-floor,  the  director's  office,  assistants'  room,  two 
small  weighing-rooms,  and  passages  leading  into  the  wings,  which  are 
used  as  laboratories.  Of  the  rooms  on  the  upper  floor,  one  is  occupied 
by  the  assistants,  and  the  other  three  are  used  for  storing  collections 
illustrating  various  agricultural  industries.  The  building  was  erected  in 
1883,  after  plans  suggested  by  the  director,  and  made  by  E.  A.  Ellsworth, 
a  graduate  of  the  College.  Its  cost  was  $15,000,  including  the  apparatus 
it  contains.  Of  this  sum,  $11,500  was  a  legislative  appropriation,  the 
rest  coming  from  the  regular  income  of  the  Station.  The  entire  chemi- 
cal work  of  both  the  Massachusetts  State  and  the  Hatch  Experiment 
stations  is  carried  on  in  this  laboratory. 

The  Farmhouse  and  barn  of  the  State  Experiment  Station  are  situ- 
ated about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  north  of  the  chemical  laboratory, 
and  are  valued  together  at  $8000.  The  house  and  main  barn  were  built 
before  the  farm  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  State,  and  has  been  re- 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  l8l 

modelled  from  time  to  time  since.  Here  resides  the  farmer  of  the 
Station,  who  is  in  general  charge  of  the  farm  work  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  director.  The  barn  contains  the  seed-room,  grain- 
room,  silos,  scales  for  weighing  the  crops,  and  live  stock.  In  1886  the 
feeding-stable  and  first  wing  were  added,  and  shortly  after  another  stable 
and  wing  of  the  same  size  were  built  in  the  rear  of  the  first.  Experi- 
ments in  feeding  and  digestion  that  have  been  carried  on  here  are 
among  the  most  important  to  farmers  of  all  that  the  Station  has  under- 
taken. A  visit  to  the  barn  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest.  Everything  is 
kept  in  most  perfect  order  and  neatness.  The  buildings  are  subject  to 
frequent  change,  depending  upon  the  nature  of  the  questions  under 
investigation.  The  creamery  attached  to  the  barn  was  built  in  1887, 
and  the  ice-house  of  one  hundred  tons'  capacity  was  erected  at  the  same 
time. 

Just  across  the  town  highway  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  stands  the 
Agricultural  and  Physical  Laboratory  of  the  State  Experiment 
Station,  a  brick  building,  two  and  a  half  stories  high,  with  brownstone 
trimmings,  and  a  frontage  of  forty  feet,  and  a  depth  of  thirty-five  feet. 
This  was  the  first  building  in  this  country  erected  for  the  special  purpose 
of  studying  the  more  intricate  questions  of  plant  growth  with  reference 
to  agricultural  plants,  and  the  relation  of  fungus  growth  to  plant  dis- 
eases. iMvas  completed  early  in  1890,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  appropri- 
ated by  the  State  legislature.  Its  outfit  cost  nearly  $3000.  The  second 
floors  are  divided  into  four,  of  equal  size  each.  The  lower  floor  is 
devoted  to  microscopic  investigations.  It  contains  an  office  with  two 
laboratories  and  a  photographic  studio,  supplied  with  an  overhead  rail- 
road for  bringing  large  plants  from  the  shed  to  the  camera.  The  second 
story  is  occupied  by  the  assistant  superintendent  of  the  field  and  feeding 
experiments.  He  has  an  office,  and  a  chemical  laboratory  for  studying 
the  physiological  condition  of  the  soil,  and  a  private  apartment.  In  the 
rear  of  the  building,  and  connecting  with  it,  is  a  covered  shed,  twenty- 
five  feet  square ;  a  glass  house,  of  the  same  size ;  and  a  greenhouse, 
twelve  feet  wide,  and  forty  feet  long.  From  the  open  side  of  the  cov- 
ered shed,  three  parallel  railways  extend  sixty  feet  on  to  the  grounds. 
Within  the  shed  are  turn-tables  and  tracks,  which  lead  into  the  glass 
house ;  and  altogether  they  furnish  a  very  convenient  method  of  trans- 
porting the  plants  under  investigation  to  and  from  the  open  air.  This 
system  of  connecting  shed  and  glass  houses  and  photographic  studio  by 


1 82  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM H ERST. 

means  of  railways  is  modelled  upon  a  plan  used  by  Dr.  Hellriesgel,  at 
Beruburg,  Germany.  The  building  was  designed,  in  conformity  with 
special  instructions,  by  E.  A.  Ellsworth  of  Holyoke,  a  graduate  of  the 
College.  It  is  maintained  by  a  portion  of  the  funds  of  the  Hatch  Experi- 
ment Station. 

Following  the  college  road  as  it  turns  again  in  the  direction  of  the 
town,  the  dwelling-house  at  the  right  is  the  home  of  the  professor  of 
horticulture.  Beyond  is  the 

Botanic  Museum  of  the  College,  built  in  1866,  at  a  cost  of  $5180. 
It  is  a  two-story  frame  structure,  43  by  45  feet,  and  was  one  of  the  four 
buildings  erected  about  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  College.  On  the 
first  floor  is  a  laboratory  and  recitation  room.  On  the  floor  above  is  the 
Knowlton  Herbarium,  collected  by  W.  W.  Denslow  of  New  York,  of  fifteen 
thousand  species,  one  of  the  finest  collections  in  the  country.  A  large 
collection  of  native  woods,  and  fifty  specimens  of  wood  from  the  Hima- 
laya Mountains,  made  by  the  celebrated  travellers,  the  Von  Schlagentwelt 
brothers,  are  also  kept  in  this  room.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
objects  in  the  room  is  a  cast  of  a  mammoth  squash,  grown  in  the  plant 
house  in  1873,  which  actually  lifted,  in  the  course  of  its  growing,  a  weight 
equal  to  forty-five  hundred  pounds,  and  for  some  days  after  an  accidental 
cracking  of  the  shell  supported  five  thousand  pounds.  The  office  of  the 
college  treasurer  is  in  this  building,  his  hours  being  from  four  to  five 
o'clock  one  or  two  afternoons  of  each  week. 

The  neighboring  stable  was  built  in  1885  for  the  use  of  the  horti- 
cultural department  of  the  College,  cost  $1500,  and  is  conveniently 
arranged  for  the  use  of  the  department. 

The  President's  House,  on  the  hill-side,  was  built  in  1884  for  the 
use  of  President  Greenough,  and  cost  $11,500.  It  is  still  the  property 
of  the  College,  and  occupied  as  a  residence  by  W.  P.  Brooks,  professor 
of  agriculture. 

On  the  land  between  this  building  and  the  stable,  the  horticultural 
department  makes  experiments  in  growing  small  fruits  and  berries.  A 
fine  vineyard  is  at  the  north  of  the  president's  house,  and  a  large  peach 
orchard  and  a  nursery  at  the  east.  These  contain  many  of  the  finest 
varieties  of  vines  and  trees,  which  are  cultivated  entirely  for  experiment. 

The  Durfee  Plant  House,  a  gift  of  the  late  Dr.  Nathan  Durfee  of 
Fall  River,  at  one  time  treasurer  of  the  College,  was  built  in  1868  at  an 
expense  of  $12,000.  On  January  23,  1883,  the  house  was  partially 


Page  185. 


BOTANIC    MUSEUM    AND    PLANT   HOUSE. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


187 


destroyed  by  fire,  but  was  immediately  rebuilt,  and  is  now  valued  the 
same  as  originally.  The  main  house  consists  of  an  octagon,  40  feet  in 
diameter,  and  two  wings  each  60  feet  long  and  30  wide.  A  workroom 
in  the  rear  of  the  octagon  communicates  with  two  parallel  pits  each  50 
feet  long.  A  small  wing,  24  by  16  feet,  opens  from  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  octagon.  The  main  house  contains  many  types  of  plants  for 
illustration  and  educational  purposes.  These  are  provided  from  the 


The  Insectary. 

income  of  a  $10,000  fund,  the  gift  of  the  late  Leonard  M.  Hills  and  his 
son  Henry  F.  Hills,  of  Amherst.  The  pits  and  the  small  wing  are  used 
for  growing  marketable  plants  and  flowers. 

The  Greenhouse  of  the  Hatch  Experiment  Station  was  constructed  in 
the  fall  of  1888,  after  special  plans  devised  by  Professor  S.  T.  Maynard, 
the  head  of  the  horticultural  division.  Completely  fitted,  it  cost  $2800, 
and  is  designed  for  experiments  in  plant-growing,  with  different  methods 
of  heating.  There  is  a  main  room,  containing  the  heatingapparatus, 
and  two  parallel  greenhouses  of  exactly  the  same  size  and  construction, 
extending  from  the  south  side.  One  of  them  is  heated  by  steam,  and 


1 88  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

the  other  by  hot  water.  Valuable  investigations  are  made  here  each 
winter,  and  the  results  widely  published. 

The  grounds  at  the  south  of  this  group  of  buildings  is  used  by  the 
horticultural  department  for  experiments  in  fruit  and  ornamental  tree- 
culture.  The  farmhouse  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  is  one  of  the 
buildings  bought  with  the  land  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the 
College.  The  small  building  at  the  left  is  the 

Insectary  of  the  entomological  department  of  the  Hatch  Experi- 
ment Station,  built  in  1889.  The  expense  of  its  construction,  $2000, 
was  met  by  the  Agricultural  College  and  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Agriculture.  The  investigations  of  this  department 
relate  to  the  life  and  habits  of  insects  injurious  to  vegetation,  and  are 
under  the  direction  of  the  State  entomologist,  Professor  Charles  H. 
Fernald.  The  building  is  a  story  and  a  half  high,  28  by  20  feet 
in  area,  and  has  adjoining  it  a  greenhouse  30  feet  long  and  18 
wide.  The  ground-floor  contains  the  entomologist's  office,  a  labora- 
tory, and  an  "insecticide  room,"  where  the  various  compounds  for 
killing  insects  are  tested.  The  laboratory  occupies  the  entire  half  of 
the  floor  adjoining  the  greenhouse.  This  latter  is  divided  into  a  hot 
room  and  a  cold  room,  which  are  used  for  breeding  insects.  In  the 
cellar  of  the  main  house  are  vaults  for  wintering  such  insects  as  may  be 
under  investigation.  It  was  in  this  building  that  the  extended  investiga- 
tions of  the  gypsy  moth,  for  the  destruction  of  which  the  State  has 
expended  much  money,  were  first  made.  The  department  is  constantly 
receiving  queries  from  all  over  the  country,  principally  this  State,  how- 
ever, in  regard  to  the  destruction  of  common  and  injurious  insects. 


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THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 


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THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  H  ERST. 


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ARTISTIC  PAPER  HANGINGS  and  CEILING  DECORATIONS. 

LEADS,  OILS,  VARNISHES,  AND  PAINTERS'  SUPPLIES. 
ALL  KINDS  EXTERIOR  AND  INTERIOR  PAINTING  AND  DECORATING  DONE  TO  ORDER. 


267  Main  Street,    opposite  Academy  of  MUSIC,    Northampton,  Mass. 

JAMES  DOOLING, 

*  Caterer  «  ar?d  *  <?oi?feetior?er  » 

ii  and  13  TEMPLE  PLACE,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


MRS.  L  E.  REDDING, 

Students'   Boarding  House. 

Board,  $4.00  per  week.     A  few  Good  Rooms  to  rent. 

CORRESPONDENCE  PROMPTLY  ANSWERED. 

MAPLE   AVENUE,  AMHERST. 

J0HN   MULLEN, 

DEALER   IN 

*  PROVISIONS,  FISH  AND  OYSTERS,* 

CANNED    GOODS,    ETC. 
UNION   BLOCK,  AMHERST,  MASS. 

MILAN   W.   BULL, 

DEALER   IN 

Breech-Loading  Shot  Guns,  Rifles,  Revolvers, 
Fishing  Tackle,  Ammunition,    *    Lawn  Tennis  and  Base  Ball  Goods  a  Specialty. 

Repairing  promptly  done  on  Guns,  Pistols,   Umbrellas,   Parasols, 
etc.,  etc.     All  styles  of  Stencil  Cutting,  and  General  Jobbing. 

No.  445  MAIN  STREET,  Opposite  Court  Square. 


194  THE   HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST. 

HOUGHTON     HALL~ 

Pleasantly  situated  one  block  from  the  College.  Newly  furnished. 
Hard  wood  floors.  Open  fires.  Rooms  with  or  without  meals,  for 
Students  and  Summer  Guests.  Table  and  Service  excellent. 

C.  M.  HOUGHTON,  PROPRIETOR. 

R.    ROLLINGS    &    CO., 

MANUFACTURERS   OF 

GAS  AND  EbEGTRIG  CHANDELIERS 

AND    FINE   LAMPS. 

547   WASHINGTON    STREET,   BOSTON,   MASS. 

HENRY   ADAMS,    Phar.D., 


WEBSTER'S 

INTERNATIONAL 

DICTIONARY 


No.  i  COOK'S  BLOCK  AMHERST,  MASS. 

WEBSTER'S    INTERNATIONAL 

JUST    PUBLISHED—  ENTIRELY    NEW. 

The  Authentic 
sues  of  1864,  '79 
now  Thoroughly 
and  as  a  distinguishing  title,  bears  the  name  of 

WEBSTER'S  INTERNATIONAL  DICTIONARY. 

Editorial  work  upon  this  revision  has  been  in 
active  progress  over  1O  Years,  not  less  than  10O 
paid  editorial  laborers  having  been  engaged 
upon  it,  and  not  less  than  $3OO,OOO  having  been 
expended  before  the  first  copy  was  printed. 

Critical  examination  is  invited.    Get  the  Best. 

A  Grand  Investment  for  every  Family  and  School. 

Sold  by  all  Booksellers.    Illustrated  Pamphlet  free. 
Published  by  G.  &  C.  MEKRIAM  &  CO.,  Springfield,  Mass.,  U.S.  A. 


Carpets,  Window  Shades,  Draperies,  Etc. 

NO  MORE  COMPLETE   STOCK  IN  HAMPSHIRE  COUNTY. 

Goods    are    here    to    be    Sold,    and   at   the    LOWEST   PRICES. 
E.    D.    MARSH,    AMHERST,   MASS. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  195 

RESTAURANT  ....     NORTHAMPTON. 

BARK'S  RESTAURANT SPRINGFIELD. 

HOTEL    WARWICK SPRINGFIELD. 

PALACE  HOTEL  .  KNOXVILLE,   TENN. 


E.  C.  BARR.  G.  E.  BARR.  J.  C.  BARR. 

C.    H.    BREWSTER, 

-*  plorist,  s*- 

Greenhouse    and    Bedding    Plants,    Seeds,   Bulbs,    Etc. 
12  SOUTH  STREET,  NORTHAMPTON,  MASS. 

U/I.LLISTON  SEMINARY, 

EASTHAMPTON,    MASS. 


Semi-Centennial  Year.      -x-       -x-      1841-1891, 


Under  the   charge  of  REV.  WILLIAM   GALLAGHER,    A.M.    (Harvard}, 

PH.D.  (Amherst),  for  eigHt  years  Master  in 

Boston  Latin  School. 

Seven  instructors  in  the  Faculty,  representing  five  institutions. 
Thoroughly  equipped  Classical  and  Scientific  Courses.  Steam  heat, 
bath-rooms,  new  chemical  and  physical  laboratories,  drawing-room, 
lecture-room  in  physics,  library,  and  reading-room,  are  among  the 
improvements  lately  added. 


196  THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AM  HER  ST. 

EQUITABLE  MORTGAGE  COMPANY. 

Capital  subscribed $2,000,000.00     Surplus  and  undivided  profits..  ..$496,716.85 

Paid  in  (Cash) 1,000,000.00     Assets 11,168,685.04 

This  Company  solicits  correspondence  about  all  first-class  investments.  Buys  and  negotiates 
Municipal,  Railroad,  Water,  Industrial,  and  Irrigation  Bonds.  Issues  its  debentures  and  negotiates 
mortgage  loans.  CHARLES  N.  FOWLER,  President. 

OFFICES  : 

New  York,  208  Broadway.  London,  England.  Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

Philadelphia,  4th  and  Chestnut  Sts.      Boston,  117  Devonshire  St.  Berlin,  Germany. 

Represented  by  EDWARD  B.   MARSH,  Amherst,  Mass. 

JAMES  P.  PAGE, 

DEALER  IN 

Boots,  Shoes,  and  Rubbers. 

AMHERST,  MASS. 


*    CHARLES    DEUEL,   a 

DEALER  IN 

DRUGS,  MEDICINES,  AND  CHEMICALS, 

AMHERST   HOUSE   BLOCK. 

Tooth,   Hair,  and  Nail  Brushes  ;    Toilet  and  Fancy  Articles  ;    Perfumery  and  Sponges. 
Cigars,  Cigarettes,  and  Tobacco.     A  Fine  Assortment  of  Fresh  Candies. 

-8   PRESCRIPTION    BUSINESS    ESPECIALLY    SOLICITED.    &- 
TRY  DEUEL'S  TOOTH  POWDER. 

jfjNE    flftdSIGAL    (pQOBS 

AT 

*  *  CUSHMAN'S  *   MUSIC  *   STORES,  *  » 
AMHERST   AND   NORTHAMPTON. 


E.   J.   STEVES, 

CONTRACTOR  and  BUILDER, 

PLEASANT  STREET,    AMHERST. 


THE  HANDBOOK   OF  AMHERST.  197 

FOB  ABSOLUTELY   EVERYTHING   IN   THE  WAY   OF 

Music,  Music  Books,  and  Musical  Instruments, 

SEND     FOR 

CATALOGUES,  LISTS,  DESCRIPTIONS,  OR  THE  THING  ITSELF,  TO 
OLIVER  DITSON  COMPANY,  BOSTON. 


TO    ANY    PART    OF    THE    WORLD. 

THE  HANDBOOK  OF  AMHERST. 

HANDSOMELY  PRINTED  AND  BOUND.     PROFUSELY 
ILLUSTRATED. 

A  guide  to  Amherst,  and  the  surrounding  charms 
of  the  Connecticut  Valley,  to  Amherst  College,  and 
to  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College. 


Will  be   mailed,    carefiilly  packed  in   a   heavy   envelope, 

and  protected  by  metal  " corners"   on 

receipt  of  $1.10. 


Address  the  maker  and  publisher, 

FREDERICK  H.  HITCHCOCK, 

Amrierst, 

Massachusetts. 


A   SINGLE   COPY  AT   ANY  BOOKSTORE,  $1.00. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


PEC  1|  1958 


SENT  ON  ILL. 


APR  0  3  1995 


U.C.BERKELEY 


LD  21A-50m-9,'58 
(6889slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


28458 


